RESEARCH ARTICLE Bird’s Response to Revegetation of Different Structure and Floristics—Are “Restoration Plantings” Restoring Bird Communities? Nicola T. Munro, 1,2 Joern Fischer, 1 Geoff Barrett, 3 Jeff Wood, 1 Adam Leavesley, 1 and David B. Lindenmayer 1 Abstract Revegetation plantings have been established throughout the world to mitigate the effects of clearing, including loss of faunal habitat. Revegetation plantings can differ substantially in structural complexity and plant diversity, with potentially differing habitat qualities for fauna. We studied bird occurrence in revegetation of different com- plexity and floristics in southern Australia. We assessed bird species richness and composition in remnant forest and cleared agricultural land as reference points, and in two types of plantings differing in structure and floris- tics—(1) “woodlot plantings” composed of native trees only and (2) “ecological plantings” composed of many species of local trees, shrubs and understorey. By approxi- mately 20 years of age, both types of plantings had a sim- ilar bird species richness to that in remnants. Bird species richness was greater in ecological plantings than wood- lot plantings. Species composition also differed. Ecological plantings contained a shrub-associated bird assemblage, whereas woodlot plantings were dominated by generalist bird species. Remnants contained a unique bird assem- blage, which were not found in either of the two types of plantings, suggesting that plantings are not a viable replacement of remnant vegetation over this time period. Bird species richness responded positively to structural complexity, but not to floristic richness. Bird species rich- ness was greater in plantings that were older, in riparian locations, and where weed cover was lower. We conclude that plantings in general can provide habitat for many species of birds, and that structurally complex ecological plantings in particular will provide unique and valuable additional habitat for birds. Key words: bird communities, countryside biogeogra- phy, floristic diversity, restoration, revegetation, vegetation structure. Introduction Around the globe, forest and woodland vegetation has been cleared for agricultural expansion, causing land degradation (Bird et al. 1992; Eberbach 2003; Foley et al. 2005) and a loss of wildlife (Saunders et al. 1991; Yates & Hobbs 1997; Fahrig 2003; Teyss` edre & Couvet 2007). To ameliorate these problems, vegetation restoration, including revegetation, has been conducted on previously cleared land (King & Keeland 1999; Turner & Ward 2002; Rey Benayas et al. 2009). However, the value of revegetation as habitat for wildlife is often poorly understood (Kimber et al. 1999; Munro et al. 2007). In Australia, vegetation clearing for agriculture has been recent (about 150 years), extensive, and intense (Yates & 1 The Fenner School of Environment and Society, Hancock Building (43), Biology Place, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia 2 Address correspondence to N. T. Munro, email nicola.munro@anu.edu.au 3 Department of Environment and Conservation, 7 Turner Avenue, Technology Park, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia  2010 Society for Ecological Restoration International doi: 10.1111/j.1526-100X.2010.00703.x Hobbs 1997). The last three decades have seen a dramatic increase in revegetation schemes and incentives (Wilson et al. 1995; Herbohn et al. 2000), such as for farm forestry, and plantings for salinity abatement, erosion control, and habi- tat provision for wildlife. The plantings resulting from these schemes can differ substantially in structure and composition, with some focusing on tree production, and others attempt- ing to re-create the properties of remnant vegetation. The comparative biodiversity benefits of these different types of revegetation plantings are unknown. We focus on birds because they are an easily studied taxon with diverse habitat needs (Recher 2004). They are relatively mobile, and hence recolonization of plantings may be rapid. Birds have also undergone dramatic changes in populations in the agricultural areas of Australia, with some species now of conservation concern, and a small number of generalists having increased in abundance (Recher 1999; Ford et al. 2001). Two important variables, structural complexity and floristic richness, have long been known to be important predictors of bird species diversity (MacArthur & MacArthur 1961; Recher Restoration Ecology 1