Productivity and Human Disturbance Shape Contrasting Distribution Patterns of Core and Occasional Bird Species in a Subtropical Forest Reserve in Southern China

Protected areas often use a zoning management to balance conservation and sustainable development, yet its effectiveness for animal communities remains a critical knowledge gap. We investigated how reserve zoning and human disturbance jointly shape bird diversity in a restored subtropical forest in Southeast China. Using a suite of statistical models on grid-based survey data, we analyzed community, functional groups, and species-level responses to zoning, human disturbance, and other landscape factors. Our findings revealed a significant mismatch between management areas and avian diversity patterns. Bird diversity hotspots were not in the strictly protected core areas but in experimental areas near human settlements. This pattern is driven by contrasting responses within the bird community: higher productivity primarily supports abundant core species, whereas proximity to human settlements strongly attracts occasional species. The presence of human settlements could augment vegetation complexity and resource availability, potentially driving higher levels of species coexistence. In contrast, in the study, birds exhibit a strong avoidance of edge areas in protected areas, as these zones often signify intense human disturbance from the surrounding landscape. We conclude that static zoning has limitations in recovering ecosystems. Effective management must balance the enhancement of habitat heterogeneity to support broad community richness with the preservation of core areas, which serve as irreplaceable refugia for disturbance-sensitive species despite not being richness hotspots.