One way in which afforestation can affect animal – and particularly
bird–populations is through predation (e.g., Evans, 2004).
Forest plantations may offer refuges for generalist predators, such
as corvids and medium-sized carnivores, that otherwise would be
absent or less abundant in open country, thereby increasing predation
rates in surrounding habitats (Andrén, 1992; Pita et al.,
2009). Also, afforestation may favour key prey such as lagomorphs
(Hulbert et al., 1996), which in turn may increase predator activity
and thus predation rates (Yanes and Suárez, 1996).