DOI: 10.5061/dryad.0cfxpnwd4
title: Data from: Forest-associated understorey birds persist in agroforestry orchards within tropical rubber and oil palm landscapes

description: Tropical agricultural landscapes can support biodiversity, including
 forest spill-over species, shaped by habitat factors operating at multiple
 scales. Understanding these factors is crucial for conserving biodiversity
 and maintaining ecosystem services. Using mist-netting data, this study
 examined how land-cover changes influence understorey birds and identified
 key factors at stand- and landscape-levels, along with a site-specific
 feature, affecting bird assemblages in agroforestry orchards, rubber tree,
 and oil palm plantations in Peninsular Malaysia. We captured 39 species
 over 9,900 netting hours, with forest-associated species comprising 33% of
 the total. Agricultural type emerged as primary driver of bird diversity,
 with agroforestry orchards supporting greater species richness and
 abundance. Canopy cover negatively influenced species richness, total
 abundance, and the occurrence of carnivorous/insectivorous and
 granivorous/frugivorous birds. Understorey vegetation height positively
 impacted bird total abundance. Elevation negatively influenced bird
 abundance and the occurrence of omnivores but positively affected
 forest-associated species. Distance to forest was negatively correlated
 with bird abundance and the occurrence of omnivorous birds. Our findings
 highlight agroforestry orchards as avian refuges and biological corridors
 that enhance landscape connectivity and ecosystem functioning in
 agricultural areas. Specifically, in our region, dense canopy cover in
 monoculture plantations reduced bird richness and abundance, likely due to
 reduced sunlight suppressing understorey vegetation and limiting resource
 availability. Conversely, agroforestry orchards with more open canopy and
 structurally complex vegetation supported a greater diversity of feeding
 guilds, including certain forest-associated species. These results
 underscore the importance of managing tropical farmland by maintaining
 understorey growth, increasing canopy heterogeneity, and reducing
 isolation from forest remnants.
description: # Data from: Forest-associated understorey birds persist in agroforestry
 orchards within tropical rubber and oil palm landscapes Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.0cfxpnwd4](10.5061/dryad.0cfxpnwd4) ## Description of the
 data and file structure This dataset comprises bird mist netting data
 conducted on agroforestry orchards, oil palm, and rubber tree plantations.
 Mist netting was conducted at 330 sampling points in Negeri Sembilan
 State, Malaysia. Additionally, the dataset encompasses variables
 determined at stand and landscape levels, as well as a site-specific
 feature gathered at each sampling point #### File name:
 Data-BITR-24-283.xlsx Data-specific information: 1\. Number of variables:
 14 2\. Number of cases/rows: 330 3\. Variable list: * Point: Number
 assigned to each sampling point (point 1 - point 330) * Agricultural type:
 Agricultural type which represented by the sampling point (oil palm,
 rubber, or orchard) * Total abundance: Total number of birds captured *
 Total species: Total number of species captured * Omnivorous-occurrence:
 Recorded as present (1) if any species from the omnivorous group were
 captured, otherwise absent (0) * Carnivorous/insectivorous-occurrence:
 Recorded as present (1) if any species from the Carnivorous/insectivorous
 group were captured, otherwise absent (0) *
 Granivorous/frugivorous-occurrence: Recorded as present (1) if any species
 from the Granivorous/frugivorous group were captured, otherwise absent (0)
 * Forest-associated-occurrence: Recorded as present (1) if any species
 from the Forest-associated group were captured, otherwise absent (0) *
 Understory vegetation cover: Coverage of understory vegetation primarily
 composed of shrubs, grasses, and ferns (percentage, %) * Understory
 vegetation height: height measurement of herbaceous plants and perennial
 woody plants (centimetre, cm) * Canopy cover: Average percentage of shade
 (percentage, %) * Crop density: Total number of the cultivated plant
 individuals per plot * Elevation: Altitude measured above sea level
 (metre, m) * Distance to forest: Shortest measured distance to a forest
 fragment (kilometre, km)