The effects of shrub encroachment on bird occupancy vary with land use in an African savanna

Land‐cover and land‐use change are major drivers of global biodiversity loss. Savannas are experiencing shrub encroachment and land‐use changes that affect animal communities, yet how the effects of shrub encroachment vary with land use remains unclear. We also need to determine which species traits explain the effects of shrub encroachment and land‐use changes to identify potential drivers of community change and predict species' responses to conservation efforts. We sampled birds across gradients of shrub encroachment and land use (protected savanna, pastures, homestead lands, and sugarcane) in the lowveld savanna of Eswatini to: (1) test for the effects of shrub encroachment, land‐use change, and their potential synergies on the occurrence of 48 species of birds; and (2) determine which species traits (those associated with nesting, foraging, or vulnerability to predation) explained species' associations with shrub encroachment and land‐use change. We used Bayesian multispecies occupancy models to account for imperfect detection, interpret species responses, and understand the effects of species traits. We found evidence for community‐wide synergies between shrub encroachment and land‐use effects on birds that varied with species' diets. Agricultural intensification had negative effects on the occurrence of most species examined, while shrub cover typically had positive effects which were stronger in pastures and homestead lands than in protected areas. The negative effects of land‐use change were greatest for insectivores and cavity nesters, whereas insectivore occurrence increased with shrub cover, collectively indicating that nesting and foraging traits best explained species responses to land‐use and land‐cover change in the region. Our results suggest that shrub cover management for bird conservation should vary with land use: shrubs could be thinned in protected areas without reducing bird occupancy but shrubs in homesteads should be retained.