Understanding the effects of landscape composition and configuration, climate, and topography on bird diversity is necessary to identify distribution drivers, potential impacts of land use changes, and future conservation strategies. We surveyed bird communities in a study area located in the Central Alps (Autonomous Province of South Tyrol, northeast Italy), by means of point counts and investigated taxonomic and functional diversity at two spatial scales along gradients of land use/land cover (LULC) intensity and elevation. We also explored how environmental variables influence bird traits and red-list categories. Models combining drivers of different types were highly supported, pointing towards synergetic effects of different types of environmental variables on bird communities. The model containing only LULC compositional variables was the most supported one among the single-group models: LULC composition plays a crucial role in shaping local biodiversity and hence bird communities, even across broad landscape gradients. Particularly relevant were wetlands, open habitats, agricultural mosaics made up of small habitat patches and settlements, ecotonal and structural elements in agricultural settings, and continuous forests. To conserve bird diversity in the Alps, planning and management practices promoting and maintaining small fields, structural elements, and a mosaic of different LULC types should be supported, while preserving continuous forests at the same time. Additionally, pastures, extensively used meadows, and wetlands are key to conservation. These strategies might mitigate the impacts of global change on bird diversity in the Alps and in other European mountain areas.

Aim: High‐elevation specialist species are threatened by climate change and habitat loss, and their distributions are becoming increasingly reduced and fragmented. In such a context, dispersal ability is crucial to maintain gene flow among patches of suitable habitat. However, information about dispersal is often lacking for these species, especially for those taxa that are usually considered as good dispersers such as birds. We adopted a landscape genomics approach to investigate dispersal in a climate‐sensitive high‐elevation specialist bird. Our aims were to assess the levels of gene flow within a wide mountain area, and to assess the effects of geographic distance and landscape characteristics on dispersal, by testing the isolation by distance (IBD) hypothesis against the isolation by resistance (IBR) hypothesis.Location: European Alps.Taxon: Montifringilla nivalis. Methods: We sampled individuals from several breeding areas and obtained single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data by ddRAD sequencing. We then calculated site‐ and individual level genetic distances and individual inbreeding coefficients. To test IBD versus IBR, we related genetic distances to both geographic distances and different measures of landscape resistance by using maximum likelihood population effects models.Results: Gene flow among breeding areas was partly restricted, and we found support for IBD, indicating that geographic distance limits snowfinch dispersal. Spatial patterns of genetic distances suggested that philopatry strongly contributed to determine the observed IBD. High inbreeding coefficients in several individuals indicated frequent mating among relatives.Main Conclusions: Restricted dispersal and frequent inbreeding within ‘sky island’ systems can also occur in highly mobile species, because their potential ability to cover very large distances can be counteracted by high philopatry levels that are likely related to high dispersal costs. IBD and philopatry will increasingly hinder snowfinch dispersal among suitable areas within the future more restricted and fragmented breeding range, increasing the risks of local extinctions.

Throughout South Tyrol, in northern Italy, there is a data deficiency relating to wild bee species pool. Here, we present significant findings from the collection of 3,313 wild bees gathered over two separate studies conducted in consecutive years. Our research focused on the impact of landscape heterogeneity, temperature and land-use change on wild bee communities and their pollination services in an agricultural and mountainous landscape. This article provides a detailed account of the 150 identified wild bee species collected using coloured pan traps. We report habitat type, occurrence data, threat status, sociality, nesting strategy and diet breadth. In Italian regions where information on wild bee distribution is lacking or outdated, sharing data is crucial for developing conservation policies. The compiled species list strengthens regional and national wild bee database by providing new distribution data for extinction-threatened species, such as Dufourea dentiventris (Nylander, 1848), Dufourea inermis (Nylander, 1848), Lasioglossum brevicorne (Schenck, 1870), Lasioglossum laevigatum (Kirby, 1802), Lasioglossum monstrificum (Morawitz, 1891), Nomada mutica Morawitz, 1872 and Nomada villosa Thomson, 1870. Additionally, we present recent findings of species that are valuable for understanding range expansions, recording species previously unreported in South Tyrol and updating historical data for the region.

Agriculture has played a pivotal role in shaping European mountain biodiversity. Traditional practices, characterized by low intensity and crop mosaics, have historically created complex, heterogeneous landscapes that supported a high biodiversity level. Agricultural intensification has turned these traditional crop systems into artificial habitats, leading to increased field sizes, habitat fragmentation, and decrease of habitat heterogeneity, contributing to the current farmland biodiversity crisis. We investigated the direct and indirect ecological drivers of bird communities in cultivated landscapes within the Alps. We aimed to disentangle the effects of biotic/abiotic factors on birds in permanent and annual crops (vineyards, apple orchards, arable lands). Using piecewise structural equation models, we analyzed bird indices and indicator species to explore the direct, indirect, and total effects of most relevant drivers, highlighting possible patterns due to degradation induced by intensification. Natural/near-natural habitats and compositional habitat heterogeneity positively influenced species richness and functional diversity. Conversely, structural habitat heterogeneity often had negative effects on bird communities. Topo-climatic variables were also relevant, with elevation promoting functional diversity and species richness, while steeper slopes increased near-natural habitats within the landscapes, indirectly supporting communities and species. These results highlighted the importance of maintaining and enhancing natural/near-natural habitats, usually removed by intensification processes, within intensively cultivated landscapes to support biodiversity. Landscape-scale conservation strategies that consider both direct and indirect ecological drivers are needed to effectively manage and conserve bird communities in the Alps under the pressures imposed by modern agriculture.