Fuente: PubMed "rice" Environ Manage. 2026 Jul 10;76(7):250. doi: 10.1007/s00267-026-02557-3.ABSTRACTAggregate biodiversity metrics frequently mask profound structural shifts in human-modified savannahs, creating a persistent paradox where apparent ecological stability conceals severe community reorganization and functional degradation. To resolve this tension in the Sudanese savannah of North Cameroon, systematic sampling of 4,166 individuals across 68 species quantified avian responses to landscape conversion into Mixed Rural Habitats, Rice Paddies, and Annual Crop Fields. Although aggregate species richness and abundance remained invariant across these land-use types, pairwise comparisons confirmed that each habitat supports a distinct avian signature, driving systematic community turnover rather than taxonomic attrition. Community identity partitioned decisively by land-use, with Annual Crop Fields supporting 39.7% of unique species, Rice Paddies at 26.5%, and Mixed Rural Habitats at 7.4%. Furthermore, 13.23% of recorded species were exclusively restricted to these agricultural systems, establishing land-use type as a statistically significant predictor of community assembly and confirming that each habitat contributes a unique structural component to the regional species pool. Functional organization mirrored this targeted reconfiguration; while most feeding guilds exhibited resilience to modification, Aquatic predator and Omnivore abundances proved highly sensitive to land-use variation, identifying these specific guilds as critical functional sentinels of anthropogenic disturbance. Ultimately, these dynamics fundamentally reframe the conservation value of agricultural savannahs, shifting the primary metric of success from gross species counts to the preservation of compositional turnover and functional integrity. The persistence of these diverse assemblages remains strictly contingent upon the structural complexity of the land-use mosaic rather than the mere localized absence of human activity. Consequently, effective conservation in the Sudano-Sahelian biome necessitates management frameworks that transcend simple habitat preservation to actively integrate native vegetation within productive agricultural systems, ensuring that unchecked agricultural expansion does not precipitate silent functional homogenization across the rapidly transforming African tropics.PMID:42432281 | DOI:10.1007/s00267-026-02557-3