Abstract
The northern boreal forest, taiga, is one of the largest biomes of the globe. The biome covers a belt 1000–2000 km wide around the northern hemisphere and is situated between the latitudes of 50 and 70°N. In a few areas the boreal forest extends north of the Arctic Circle (restricted areas in Fennoscandia, Siberia, Alaska and northwestern Canada). Although taiga may be considered relatively uniform, there is marked variation due to climatic differences. This has resulted in various subdivisions of the boreal zone (e.g. Hare, 1954). The yearly mean temperature is about 0°C; winter is long and cold, and the environment is highly seasonal.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Ahlén, I. (1976) Forestry and the bird fauna in Sweden. Ornis Fennica 52:39–44.
Askins, R.A., Philbrick, M.J. and Sugeno, D.S. (1987) Relationship between the regional abundance of forest and the composition of forest bird communities. Biol. Conserv. 39:129–152.
Bilcke, G. (1984) Residence and non-residence in passerines: Dependence on the vegetation structure. Ardea 72:223–227.
Blake, J.G. and Karr, J.R. (1987) Breeding birds in isolated woodlots: Area and habitat relationships. Ecology 68:1724–1734.
Blake, J.G., Hanowski, J.M., Niemi, G.J. and Collins, P.T. (1991) Hourly variation in transect counts of birds. Ornis Fennica 68:139–147.
Blake, J.G., Niemi, G.J. and Hanowski, J.M. (1992) Drought and annual variation in bird populations: effects of migratory strategy and breeding habitat, in Ecology and conservation of neotropical migrant landbirds, (eds J.M. Hagan III and D.W. Johnston), pp. 419–429. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC.
Blake, J.G., Hanowski, J.M., Niemi, G.J. and Collins, P.T. (1994) Annual variation in bird populations of mixed conifer-northern hardwood forests. Condor 96:381–399.
Carbyn, L.N. (1971) Densities and biomass relationships of birds nesting in boreal forest habitats. Arctic 24:51–61.
Connell, J.H. and Sousa, W.P. (1983) On the evidence needed to judge ecological stability or persistence. Amer. Nat. 121:789–824.
Dayton, P.K. and Tegner, M.J. (1984) The importance of scale in community ecology: a kelp forest example with terrestrial analogs, in A New Ecology: Novel Approaches to Interactive Systems, (eds P.W. Price, C.N. Slobodchikoff and W.S. Gaud), pp. 457–481. John Wiley & Sons, New York.
DesGranges, J.-L. (1980) Avian community structure of six forest stands in La Mauricie Natural Park, Quebec. Occ. Paper No. 41, Canadian Wildlife Service.
Dunning, J.B., Danielson, B.J. and Pulliam, R.H. (1992) Ecological processes that affect populations in complex landscapes. Oikos 65:169–175.
Enemar, A., Nilsson, L. and Sjöstrand, B. (1984) The composition and dynamics of the passerine bird community in a subalpine birch forest, Swedish Lapland. A 20-year study. Ann. Zool. Fennici 21:321–338.
Fischer, A.G. (1960) Latitudinal variations in organic diversity. Evolution 14:64–81.
Fox, J.F. (1983) Post-fire succession of small-mammal and bird communities, in The Role of Fire in Northern Circumpolar Ecosystems, (eds R.W. Wein and D.A. MacLean), pp. 155–180. John Wiley & Sons, New York.
Głowacinski, Z. (1975) Succession of the bird communities in the Niepolomice Forest (Southern Poland). Ekol. Polska 23:231–263.
Głowacinski, Z. (1981) Stability in bird communities during the secondary succession of a forest ecosystem. Ekol. Polska 29:73–95.
Głowacinski, Z. and Järvinen, O. (1975) Rate of secondary succession in forest bird communities. Ornis Scand. 6:33–40.
Gokee, A.R., Niemi, G.J., Hanowski, J.M. and Collins, P.T. (1994) Comparison of avian communities in old-growth, secondary growth, and mixed forests in the Lake Superior region. Unpublished manuscript, Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN, USA.
Haapanen, A. (1965) Bird fauna of the Finnish forests in relation to forest succession. I. Ann. Zool. Fennici 2:153–196.
Hagan, J.M. and Johnston, D.W. (eds) (1992) Ecology and Conservation of Neotropical Migrant Land Birds. Smithsonian Institution Press, New York.
Haila, Y. (1983) Land birds on northern islands: A sampling metaphor for insular colonization. Oikos 41:334–351.
Haila, Y. (1986) North European land birds in forest fragments: evidence for area effects?, in Wildlife 2000: modeling habitat relationships of terrestrial vertebrates, (eds J. Verner, M.L. Morrison and C.J. Ralph), pp. 315–319. Univ. Wisconsin Press, Madison.
Haila, Y. and Järvinen, O. (1983) Land bird communities on a Finnish island: species impoverishment and abundance patterns. Oikos 41:255–273.
Haila, Y. and Järvinen, O. (1990) Northern conifer forests and their bird species assemblages, in Biogeography and Ecology of Forest Bird Communities, (ed. A. Keast), pp. 61–85. SPB Academic Publishing bv., The Hague.
Hämet-Ahti, L. (1983) Human impact on closed boreal forest (taiga), in Man’s Impact on Vegetation, (eds W. Holzner, M.J.A. Werger and I. Ikusima), pp. 201–211. W. Junk Publishers, The Hague.
Hanowski, J.M., Blake, J.G., Niemi, G.J. and Collins, P.T. (1991) ELF communications system ecological monitoring program: Wisconsin bird studies — Final Report. Report No. E06628-2 National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA.
Hanowski, J.M., Blake, J.G., Niemi, G.J. and Collins, P.T. (1993) Effects of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields on breeding and migrating birds. American Midland Naturalist 129:96–115.
Hare, F.K. (1954) The boreal conifer zone. Geogr. Stud. 1:4–18.
Hare, F.K. and Ritchie, J.C. (1972) The boreal bioclimates. Geogr. Rev. 62:334–365.
Heinselman, M.L. (1973) Fire in the virgin forests of the Boundary Waters Canoe area, Minnesota. Quatern. Research 3:329–382.
Helle, P. (1985a) Effects of forest regeneration on the structure of bird communities in northern Finland. Holarctic Ecol. 8:120–132.
Helle, P. (1985b) Effects of forest fragmentation on bird densities in northern boreal forests. Ornis Fennica 62:35–41.
Helle, P. (1986) Effects of forest succession and fragmentation on bird communities and invertebrates in boreal forests. Acta Univ. Ouluensis A 178:41 + 93 pp.
Helle, P. and Fuller, R.J. (1988) Migrant passerines birds in European forest successions in relation to vegetation height and geographical position. J. Anim. Ecol. 57:565–579.
Helle, P. and Järvinen, O. (1986) Population trends of North Finnish land birds in relation to their habitat selection and changes in forest structure. Oikos 46:107–115.
Helle, P. and Mönkkönen, M. (1986) Annual fluctuations of land bird communities in different successional stages of boreal forest. Ann. Zool. Fennici 23:269–280.
Helle, P. and Mönkkönen, M. (1990) Forest successions and bird communities: theoretical aspects and practical implications, in Biogeography and Ecology of Forest Bird Communities, (ed. A. Keast), pp. 299–318. SPB Publishing bv., The Hague.
Herkert, J.R., Szafoni, R.E., Kleen, V.M. and Schwegman, J.E. (1993) Habitat Establishment, Enhancement and Management for Forest and Grassland Birds in Illinois. Natural Heritage Technical Publication 1. Springfield, Illinois. 19 pp.
Herrera, C.M. (1978) On the breeding distribution pattern of European migrant birds: MacArthur’s theme reexamined. Auk 95:496–509.
Horn, H.S. (1974) The ecology of secondary succession. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 5:25–37.
James, F.C., Wiedenfeld, D.A. and McCullogh, C.E. (1992) Trends in breeding populations of warblers: Declines in the southern highlands and increases in the lowlands, in Ecology and Conservation of Neotropical Migrant Landbirds, (eds J.M. Hagan and D.W. Johnston), pp. 43–56. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC.
Järvinen, O. (1979) Geographical gradients of stability in European land bird communities. Oecologia (Berl.) 38:51–69.
Järvinen, O. (1981) Dynamics of North European bird communities. Acta XVII Congr. Int. Ornithol. (Berlin): 770–776.
Järvinen, O. and Ulfstrand, S. (1980) Species turnover of a continental bird fauna: Northern Europe, 1850–1970. Oecologia (Berl.) 46:186–195.
Järvinen, O. and Väisänen, R.A. (1977) Long-term changes of North European land bird fauna. Oikos 29:225–228.
Järvinen, O. and Väisänen, R.A. (1978) Long-term population changes of the most abundant south Finnish forest birds during the 50 years. J. Ornithol. 119:441–449.
Johnston, D.H. and Schwartz, M.D. (1993) The conservation reserve program and grassland birds. Conservation Biology 7:934–937.
Keast, A. and Morton, E.S. (eds) (1980) Migrant birds in the Neotropics: Ecology, Behavior, Distribution, and Conservation. Smithsonian Institute Press, Washington, DC.
Kelsall, J.P., Tefler, E.S. and Wright, T.D. (1984) The effects of fire on the ecology of the boreal forest, with particular reference to the Canadian north: a review and selected bibliography. Canadian Wildlife Service, Occ. Paper No. 32.
Kendeigh, S.C. (1947) Bird population studies in the coniferous forest biome during a spruce burworm outbreak. Ontario Dept. Lands and Forests, Biol. Bull. 1:1–100.
Kornas, J. (1972) Corresponding taxa and their ecological background in the forests of temperate Eurasia and North America, in Taxonomy, Phytogeography, and Evolution, (ed. D.H. Valentine), pp. 37–59. Academic Press, New York.
Kuleshova, L.V. (1981) Ekologickeskie i zoogeographicheskie aspekti vozdejstvijah pozhzarov na lesnyh ptits i mlekopitayushsih. Zool. Zum. 60:1542–1552.
Larsen, J.A. (1980) The Boreal Ecosystem. Academic Press, New York, 500 pp.
MacArthur, R.H. (1955) Fluctuating of animal populations and a measure of community stability. Ecology 36:533–536.
MacArthur, R.H. (1959) On the breeding distribution pattern of North American migrant birds. Auk 76:318–325.
Martin, N.D. (1960) An analysis of bird populations in relation to forest succession in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario. Ecology 41:126–140.
May, P.G. (1984) Secondary succession and breeding bird community structure: Patterns of resource utilization. Oecologia (Berl.) 55:277–281.
Mayr, E. (1946) History of North American bird fauna. Wilson Bulletin 58:2–41.
McArdle, B.H. and Gaston, K.J. (1992) Comparing population variabilities. Oikos 64:610–612.
Mönkkönen, M. (1984) Metsäkasvillisuuden sukkession vaikutukset Pohjois-Savon metsälinnustoon. Siivekäs 5:41–51. (In Finnish.)
Mönkkönen, M. (1991) Geographical patterns and local processes in Holarctic breeding bird communities. Acta Univ. Ouluensis A 223:31 + 134 pp.
Mönkkönen, M. and Helle, P. (1987) Avian reproductive output in European forest successions. Oikos 50:239–246.
Mönkkönen, M. and Helle, P. (1989) Migratory habits of birds breeding in different stages of forest succession: a comparison between the Palaearctic and the Nearctic. Ann. Zool. Fennici 26:323–330.
Mönkkönen, M. and Welsh, D.A. (1994) A biogeographical hypothesis on the effects of human caused landscape changes on the forest bird communities of Europe and North America. Ann. Zool. Fennici 31:61–70.
Morgan, K. and Freedman, B. (1986) Breeding bird communities in a hardwood forest succession in Nova Scotia. Canadian Field-Naturalist 100:506–519.
Niemi, G.J. (1978) Breeding birds of burned and unburned areas in northern Minnesota. Loon 50:73–84.
Niemi, G.J. and Hanowski, J.M. (1984) Relationships of breeding birds to habitat characteristics in logged areas of northern Minnesota. J. Wildlife Manage. 48:438–443.
Niemi, G.J. and Probst, J.R. (1990) Wildlife and fire in the upper midwest, in Management of Dynamic Ecosystems, (ed. J.M. Sweeney), pp. 31–46. North Cent. Sect., The Wildlife Soc., West Lafayette, Ind.
Noon, B.R., Dawson, D.K. and Kelly, J.P. (1985) A search for stability gradients in North American breeding bird communities. Auk 102:64–81.
Odum, E.P. (1969) The strategy of ecosystem development. Science 164:262–270.
Pimm, S.L. (1986) The complexity and stability of ecosystems. Nature 307:321–326.
Pospelov, S.M. (1957) Birds and mammals in Piceetum Myrtillosum of different ages. Zool. Zumal 36:603–607. (In Russian with English summary.)
Probst, J.R., Rakstad, D.S. and Rugg, D.J. (1992) Breeding bird communities in regenerating and mature broadleaf forests in the USA Lake States. Forest Ecology and Management 49:43–60.
Sanders, C.J. (1970) Populations of breeding birds in the spruce-fir forests of northwestern Ontario. Canadian Field-Naturalist 84:131–135.
Simberloff, D. (1978) Using island biogeographic distributions to determine if colonization is stochastic. Am. Nat. 112:713–726.
Snow, D.W. (1978) Relationship between the European and African avifaunas. Bird Study 25:134–148.
Solonen, T. (1981) Dynamics of the breeding bird community around Lammi Biological Station, southern Finland, in 1971–80. Ornis Fennica 58:117–128.
Stiles, E.W. (1980) Bird community structure in alder forests in Washington. Condor 82:20–30.
Svensson, S. (1977) Population trends of common birds in Sweden. Pol. Ecol. Studies 3:207–213.
Svensson, S., Carlson, U.T. and Liljedahl, G. (1984) Structure and dynamics of an alpine bird community, a 20-year study. Ann. Zool. Fennici 21:339–350.
Theberge, J.B. (1976) Bird populations in the Kluane Mountains, southwest Yukon, with special reference to vegetation and fire. Can. J. Zool. 54:1346–1356.
Titterington, R.W., Crawford, H.S. and Burgason, B.N. (1979) Songbird responses to commercial clear-cutting in Maine spruce-fir forests. J. Wildlife Manage. 43:602–609.
Väisänen, R.A., Järvinen, O. and Rauhala, P. (1986) How are extensive, human-caused habitat alterations expressed on the scale of local bird populations in boreal forests? Ornis Scandinavica 17:282–294.
van Horne, B. (1983) Density as misleading indicator of habitat quality. J. Wildlife Manage. 47:893–901.
Virkkala, R. (1989) Short-term fluctuations of bird communities and populations in virgin and managed forests in Northern Finland. Ann. Zool. Fennici 26:277–285.
Virkkala, R. (1992) Annual variation of northern Finnish forest and fen bird assemblages in relation to spatial scale. Ornis Fennica 68:193–203.
Wein, R.W. and MacLean, D.A. (eds) (1983) The Role of Fire in Northern Circumpolar Ecosystems. John Wiley & Sons, New York.
Welsh, D.A. (1987) The influence of forest harvesting on mixed coniferous-deciduous boreal bird communities in Ontario, Canada. Acta Oecologica 8:247–252.
Welsh, D.A. and Fillman, D.R. (1980) The impact of forest cutting on boreal bird populations. Amer. Birds 34:84–94.
West, G.C. and DeWolfe, B. (1974) Populations and energetics of taiga birds near Fairbanks, Alaska. Auk 91:757–775.
Whitcomb, R.F., Robbins, C.S., Lynch, J.F. et al. (1981) Effects of forest fragmentation on avifauna of the eastern deciduous forest, in Forest Island Dynamics in Man-dominated Landscapes, (eds R.L. Burgess and D.M. Sharpe), pp. 125–205. Springer-Verlag, New York.
Wiens, J.A. (1981) Scale problems in avian censusing. Stud. Avian Biol. 6:513–521.
Wiens, J.A. (1983) Avian community ecology: an iconoclastic view, in Perspectives in Ornithology, (eds A.H. Brush and G.A. Clark), pp. 355–403. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK.
Wiens, J.A. (1989a) The Ecology of Bird Communities. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
Wiens, J.A. (1989b) Spatial scaling in ecology. Functional Ecol. 3:385–397.
Wiens, J.A. and Rotenberry, J.T. (1981) Habitat associations and community structure of birds in shrubsteppe environments. Ecol. Monogr. 51:21–41.
Winternitz, B.L. (1976) Temporal change and habitat preference of some montane breeding birds. Condor 78:383–393.
Zackrisson, O. (1977) Influence of forest fire on the North Swedish boreal forest. Oikos 29:22–32.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1996 Chapman & Hall
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Helle, P., Niemi, G.J. (1996). Bird community dynamics in boreal forests. In: DeGraaf, R.M., Miller, R.I. (eds) Conservation of Faunal Diversity in Forested Landscapes. Conservation Biology, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1521-3_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1521-3_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7180-2
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-1521-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive