Bird diversity and abundance in organic and conventional apple orchards in northern Japan

Many studies have investigated the benefits of agri-environmental schemes, such as organic farming, on biodiversity conservation in annual systems, but their effectiveness in perennial systems is less well understood, particularly in bird communities in temperate regions of Asia. This study examined the effects of organic farming practices on species richness and abundance of breeding birds in apple orchards in northern Japan. Bird counts were conducted in six pairs of organic and conventional orchards during the breeding season in April and May 2015. The total species richness of birds, estimated by sample- and coverage-based rarefaction and extrapolation curves, was greater in organic orchards than in conventional orchards. Among the three dietary guilds (insectivore, granivore, and omnivore), only insectivorous species were more abundant in organic orchards than in conventional ones. This study offers the first quantitative evidence that organic farming can be beneficial for enhancing the diversity of birds, particularly of insectivores, in fruit orchards in Japan.