1. The Indian Thar Desert has lost much of its grasslands over the last few decades, mainly due to land-use change from pastoralism to agriculture. Expanding croplands and intensifying grazing pressures are popularly hypothesized to be the major drivers of biodiversity loss in the region. Our study aims to investigate the effects of contemporary land-use change on bird communities of the Western Thar Desert.

2. We surveyed 59 randomly laid line transects in a ~2000 sq.km study area, to quantify parameters of bird community structure in three predominant land-cover types viz. protected grasslands, rangelands, and fallow croplands. Fieldwork for the study was conducted in the dry season (winter and summer) between December 2018 and April 2019.

3. During winter, overall bird species richness and abundance was highest in protected grasslands followed by fallow croplands and rangelands. Protected grasslands also had a higher abundance of diet and habitat specialists. Compared to protected grasslands, density was lower in fallow croplands and rangelands for 35% and 10% of species, respectively. A majority of the negatively affected species were insectivorous grassland specialists.

4. Contrary to the pattern in winter, overall bird species richness, abundance, composition, and guild structure in summer was similar across the three land-use types. Only one of the 17 analysed species had significantly lower density in modified land-use types.

5. Overall, protected grasslands were the best habitat for birds and specifically important for diet and habitat specialists, more so during the winter. Rangelands and fallow croplands sustained most generalists at comparable densities but had severe negative impacts on specialist species.

6. Synthesis and application: Our results point out that low-intensity agro-pastoral land-uses can supplement, but not replace, protected areas in conservation of Thar Desert's avifaunal diversity. This is in consonance with the idea of managing dryland habitats as agro-grassland mosaics with embedded protected areas, in order to reconcile human needs and biodiversity conservation at a landscape scale.

1. 在过去的几十年里，印度塔尔沙漠已经失去了大部分草原，主要是由于土地利用从畜牧业转变为农业。人们普遍认为，扩大农田和加剧的放牧压力是该地区生物多样性丧失的主要驱动因素。我们的研究旨在调查当代土地利用变化对西塔尔沙漠鸟类群落的影响。

2. 我们在约 2000 平方公里的研究区域内调查了 59 条随机铺设的线样断面，以量化三种主要土地覆盖类型的鸟类群落结构参数，即。受保护的草原、牧场和休耕地。该研究的实地考察是在 2018 年 12 月至 2019 年 4 月的旱季（冬季和夏季）进行的。

3. 冬季，受保护草原的鸟类物种丰富度和丰度总体最高，其次是休耕地和牧场。受保护的草原也有更多的饮食和栖息地专家。与受保护的草原相比，休耕地和牧场的密度分别为 35% 和 10% 的物种。大多数受到负面影响的物种是食虫草原专家。

4. 与冬季的格局相反，夏季三种土地利用类型的鸟类物种丰富度、丰度、组成和行会结构总体相似。经分析的 17 种物种中只有一种在改良的土地利用类型中密度显着降低。

5. 总体而言，受保护的草原是鸟类的最佳栖息地，对饮食和栖息地专家尤其重要，尤其是在冬季。牧场和休耕地以可比的密度维持了大多数通才，但对特殊物种产生了严重的负面影响。

6. 综合与应用：我们的研究结果表明，在塔尔沙漠鸟类多样性的保护中，低强度农牧土地利用可以补充而不是替代保护区。这与将旱地栖息地管理为带有嵌入式保护区的农业草原镶嵌图的想法是一致的，以便在景观尺度上协调人类需求和生物多样性保护。