Planting trees in old savanna changed which birds remained, not always how many
WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS
Birds were counted at 15 paired old-growth savanna and exotic tree plantation sites spanning 459–1007 millimeters of annual rainfall. Averaged across sites, afforestation did not significantly alter total richness or abundance. But the composition shifted: savanna specialists declined, woodland specialists increased, and richness responses differed at the wetter, drier and intermediate ends of the rainfall range.
WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ
Counting more trees or even retaining an aggregate species total is not equivalent to conserving the original open-habitat community. Management should identify which ecosystem and species groups its planting goal is intended to serve.
CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY
The paired-site comparison is observational and confined to one Indian region and tree-plantation context. It does not imply all native-tree restoration or all agroforestry has the same effect.
SOURCE
Conservation Science and Practice — Mhetre et al. (2026)
View original evidence ↗
Across a Maharashtra rainfall gradient, plantations shifted specialist communities even when total richness did not change overall.
Read the Wild Lands assessment →