Effects of peripheral and isolated locations of songbird habitats in minedbogs

:We assessed the effects of peripheral location and isolation of residual p atches of mined bogs by comparing their avifauna to those of non isolated p atches, at the periphery and center of neighbouring natural bogs. Species a ssemblages found in residual patches were different from those of natural b ogs. The most influencing factors affecting bird abundance were residual pa tch area and isolation, the latter occurring through habitat's type modific ations. This implies a decrease of palm warbler, (Dendroica palmarum [Gmeli n]), the sole specialist of bogs in our study area. Bog mining should then favor clustering of natural residual areas in order to reduce edge effects and isolation of microhabitats and associated wildlife.