防风林的生长常常会形成网络状的森林栖息地。这种生长状态能够增加连通性从而对生物的多样性起到保护作用，但是还没有关于这种保护效应的研究。
中科院西双版纳热带植物园协同进化组的Rachakonda Sreekar与他的同事在印度南部高止山脉的KMTR自然保护区以及其附近的防风林中进行了对于以上问题的相关研究。他们所研究的防风林由残存的当地自然森林组成，在茶田中以网状结构分布。他们在三天的时间里，运用“51样点-10分钟计数法”对各个生境型中的鸟类物种丰富度与群落结构进行统计，然后对防风林与自然保护区进行比较。所谓“51样点-10分钟计数法”即在原始森林与防风林中各系统选取51个样点，然后在每个样点上用10分钟对所能看到的鸟类进行野外鉴定与统计。
他们发现，在原始森林与防风林中，鸟类的物种丰富度和多度是非常相似的，然而，鸟类的群落结构却有一定区别。重要的功能种群组，例如果食性鸟类与虫食性鸟类，它们的多度并未随着栖息地的改变而改变，蜜食性鸟类的种群在防风林中却相较与原始森林具有更高的多度。他们认为，造成这种现象的原因很有可能是因为鸟类将防风林当作移动的路线以及觅食与筑巢的场所。这项研究显示了自然防风林有可能对保护生产用地中的鸟类具有重要的作用。
该研究以Natural Windbreaks Sustain Bird Diversity in a Tea-Dominated Landscape为题，在PLoS ONE上发表。（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0070379
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Natural Windbreaks Sustain Bird Diversity in a Tea-Dominated Landscape
Sreekar R, Mohan A, Das S, Agarwal P, Vivek R
Windbreaks often form networks of forest habitats that improve connectivity and thus conserve biodiversity, but little is known of such effects in the tropics. We determined bird species richness and community composition in windbreaks composed of remnant native vegetation amongst tea plantations (natural windbreaks), and compared it with the surrounding primary forests. Fifty-one, ten-minute point counts were conducted in each habitat type over three days. Despite the limited sampling period, our bird inventories in both natural windbreaks and primary forests were nearly complete, as indicated by bootstrap true richness estimator. Bird species richness and abundance between primary forests and windbreaks were similar, however a difference in bird community composition was observed. Abundances of important functional groups such as frugivores and insectivores did not vary between habitat types but nectarivores were more abundant in windbreaks, potentially as a result of the use of windbreaks as traveling routes, foraging and nesting sites. This preliminary study suggests that natural windbreaks may be important habitats for the persistence of bird species in a production landscape. However, a better understanding of the required physical and compositional characteristics for windbreaks to sustain bird communities is needed for effective conservation management.
