Habitat selection is a process that influences survival and ultimate fitness of animals. In general, birds select habitats among various landscape components based on patch size, vegetation vertical structure, or floristic composition; and this explains why large forest stands usually support higher bird species richness. However, some highly fragmented landscapes still support high bird species richness. We mapped the locations of all observed bird individuals in Meifeng Highlands Experimental Farm of National Taiwan University (24° 05'N, 121° 10'E) by territory mappings during the breeding seasons from 2005 to 2007. We classified the 50 ha study area into 15 landscape types by aerial photograph and measured vertical structure and floristic composition of vegetation in each patch in 2007.

Results/Conclusions

We recorded 66 bird species in 213 patches which were grouped into four major habitat types: forests, plantations, fields, and orchards. Forests and plantations had more bird species than fields and orchards. The z value in the species-area relationships of bird species in forests and plantations were significantly lower than fields and orchards but showed no significant difference between forests and plantations. Forests had significantly more plant families in canopy layer than plantations but were similar in the number of plant families in sub-canopy layer. Path analysis suggests sub-canopy played an important role in sustaining diverse bird community in plantations, especially in very small patches. We conclude that patch size is still a major factor to sustain native biodiversity in fragmented landscapes but in small patches both vegetation vertical structure and floristic composition are key factors to sustain higher native biodiversity.