The response of birds and mixed-species bird flocks to forest fragmentation has been investigated by Goodale et al. (2014). Their work has been carried out over the past ten years in South Asia. They rarely found flocks in agricultural areas but the numbers of
flocks in buffer areas was similar to that in intact forests, although buffer flocks were smaller and had a different composition. Considering buffer transects alone, pine plantations retained fewer forest interior species in flocks than did broad-leaved forests, while small
areas of agriculture and abandoned agriculture attracted openlandscape species. Though clearly not equivalent to protected forests, degraded forests and agroforests in buffer areas still hold
some conservation value. Mixed-species flocks are particularly important as vehicles for retaining forest species in human-modified habitats.