Feature, patch and refuge area: Some influences on diversity of bird species

Abstract

Censuscs of birds (individuals and species) were made in northern Queensland in woodland habitats that were near special features (streams, swamps, rocky outcrops) and in habitats representative of the features themselves. Those features whose habitat was more varied than the surrounding woodland supported a higher diversity of bird species than did the woodland. This was not, primarily, because the features supported a distinct and discrete avifauna, but rather it seemed because some specific need of a particular species was provided by the feature and that species could now use the area adjacent to the feature or because the feature concentrated certain resources relevant to several specie..