© 2009 CISO - Centro Italiano Studi Ornitologici clined (Table 1, Aunins 2006). The aim of this study is to test whether any changes in farmland bird communi- ties and population trends have occurred since the country joined the EU. The results could serve as a basis for more specialised studies in future on the causes of the changes. METHODS We used data on 54 of the most commonly recorded spe- cies in the Latvian farmland bird monitoring scheme to calculate population trends for the periods 1995-2003 (pe- riod 1) and 2003-2006 (period 2). The details of the moni- toring scheme can be found in Aunins et al. (2001), Aunins and Priednieks (2003), and Aunins and Priednieks (2008). The year 2003, the last one before Latvia accessed to the EU and the massive funding for the agricultural develop- ment became available, was chosen as a break year. Following the idea of Tiainen and Pakkala (2001, see also Herzon et al. 2006) the species were divided into six ecological groups for separate analysis according to their INTRODUCTION The Latvian farmland bird monitoring scheme was intro- duced in 1995. At that time the state’s agricultural sector was undergoing a deep crisis due to changes in the political and economic system: agricultural production decreased by more than 50% and use of agrochemicals by more than 90% while over 40% of the arable land was abandoned (Anon 2000). Many bird species profited from this situ- ation and their populations as well as species richness in farmland increased substantially during the 1990s (Aun- ins and Priednieks 2003, Keišs 2005, Aunins and Pried- nieks 2008). After 2001 and especially since Latvia joined the EU in 2004, the amount of funds allocated to the agricultural sector increased substantially. The different measures in- cluded in the national Rural Development Plan served as driving forces causing a rapid change in land use patterns and farming practices. Thus, cereal yields experienced a growth since 2003 (Anon 2006), as did the area of arable land, while the area of abandoned land and grassland de- Recent changes in agricultural landscape and bird populations in Latvia: impacts and prospects of EU agricultural policy AINARS AUNINS 1,2 , JANIS PRIEDNIEKS 2 1 Latvian Fund for Nature - Dzirnavu iela 73-2, Riga, LV-1011, Latvia (dubults@lanet.lv) 2 Department of Zoology and Animal Ecology, University of Latvia - Kronvalda bulv. 4, Riga, LV-1586, Latvia Abstract – Since Latvia joined the EU in 2004, the amount of funds allocated to the agricultural sector has increased substantially. The different measures included in the national Rural Development Plan serve as driving forces causing a rapid change in agricultural land use and farming practices. We used data from the Latvian Farmland bird monitoring scheme to describe the ongoing changes on Latvian farmland. We compared population trends of 54 individual species and species groups as well as species richness, diversity and total bird abundance between the periods 1995-2003 (period 1) and 2003-2006 (period 2). Pairwise comparisons of the trends of all the analysed species between the two periods showed that trends in period 2 were lower than in period 1 and this difference was significant. Split- ting the species into six ecological groups, the pattern was consistent in all groups. However the differences were significant only in the “ShrubEdge” and “Forest” groups and near significant in the “Open” group. The trend comparisons grouping species by their wintering areas and main food sources also showed a similar pattern, however, the differences were significant only in the species wintering in Sub- Saharan Africa and insectivore group. Overall bird abundance as well as farmland bird abundance declined in period 2 and so did farm- land bird species richness and diversity. Eleven species declined and only five species increased statistically significantly in the period 2 contrasting with four and 26 species in the period 1, respectively. The observed changes can be linked to ongoing changes on Latvian farmland: intensification, restoration of the overgrown areas as well as removal of various landscape elements to increase the “eligible” area for EU subsidies. Although these changes do not cause immediate threat to farmland birds, future development is very important. 93 Avocetta 33: 93-98 (2009)