This book helps to establish a simple framework to identify and use bird species as a bioindicator for high nature value (HNV) farmlands. This book focuses on suitable methods for monitoring the HNV areas, and presents the results of several case studies. The chapters put forward ways to integrate ecosystems assessment, geographical information systems (GIS) and strategies for conservation of local biodiversity. An innovative framework focuses on the use of species distribution models (SDMs) in order to explore the importance of each characteristic of HNV farmlands. Furthermore, the book examines the relationships among bird species richness, land use diversity and landscape metrics at a local scale in the farmlands.

Federico Morelli is a Quantitative Ecologist, currently working as Researcher at the Czech University of Life Sciences (Prague, Czech Republic). He has been involved in several European projects modelling the impact of land use and climate change on spatial distribution of biodiversity. The main focus of his research interests is related to the response of species distribution models to multiscale predictors, the effects of landscape metrics on biodiversity patterns, the development and test of several bioindicators and the general topics of macroecology. Piotr Tryjanowski is a professor and director of the Institute of Zoology at Poznan University of Life Sciences. His research interest includes mainly ecology of vertebrates, with particular attention to the effect of climate and environmental changes on birds and mammals. For instance, since more than 25 years he studies farmland bird populations in Poland.