The impact of reclamation and afforestation operations after forest fires on birds diversity - Umm al-Toyour and al-Basit Reserve

Abstract

The research aimed to study the impact of intervention in the burned sites, represented by preparing the sites into terraces and artificially planting them, on the diversity of birds in the Umm Al-Toyour and Al-Basit Reserve, which has been exposed to several fires in recent years, due to the ability of birds to respond to risks very quickly and thus their role as a vital indicator that is extremely important in solving many problems related to the environment in a very simple way.

The study was carried out in the Umm Al-Toyour and Al-Basit Reserve in northwestern of Syria, by surveying birds using the “count points” method, in 23 samples in the spring of 2019, in forests exposed to fires within two different habitats in terms of plant composition: the first was burned forests left for natural regeneration and the second was Burnt forests were afforested with various forest species created in terraces.

The results showed a significant superiority of the bird species richness index in the natural regeneration habitat, where 57 species were recorded while only 32 species were recorded in the terraced habitat, while there was no difference in the abundance of species between the two habitats, Diversity indicators (similarity and evenness) between bird species also showed variation between the two habitats.

The results can help in providing proposals to those responsible for managing the reserve regarding afforestation operations.