Our study considered the excavation of sand and gravel, which modifies the landscapes of riparian ecosystems. It promotes the creation of water bodies with surrounding vegetation, but it also results in the loss of natural habitats. We investigated the species richness, composition, and abundance of aquatic and terrestrial breeding birds and their interaction with three habitat types: managed and abandoned flooded pits, and oxbow lakes. We surveyed 117 sites in medium-sized river valleys in the foreground of the Bohemian Massif (Czech Republic), and in the Carpathian Mountains (Poland, Slovakia) in 2022. Flooded pits were suitable for open-water and colonial birds. Managed flooded pits were also suitable for early successional land birds, but they did not provide habitat for birds that use marshes and wet meadows, or riparian woodlands. The majority of species preferred to breed in oxbow lakes with riparian forests and these areas hosted the highest number of threatened species. We concluded that high levels of disturbance in riparian ecosystems promoted some birds (e.g. colonial or breeding in early-successional habitats), but it negatively affected the overall bird diversity, and it led to a species composition shift with the elimination of taxa associated with indigenous riparian habitats. The importance of flooded pits increases with subsequent plant succession. Our results indicate that gravel or sand mine pits, although beneficial for some taxa, are not substitutes for natural habitats in riparian ecosystems, as they do not support birds breeding in indigenous riparian habitats. Natural oxbow lakes with riparian forests are habitats that need to be preserved to effectively promote local biodiversity.

Department of Applied Zoology and Wildlife Management Faculty of Forestry Technical University in Zvolen T G Masaryka 20 SK 960 01 Zvolen Slovak Republic

Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals Polish Academy of Sciences Sławkowska 17 31 016 Kraków Poland

University of Hradec Králové Faculty of Science Rokitanského 62 500 03 Hradec Králové Czech Republic

University of Hradec Králové Faculty of Science Rokitanského 62 500 03 Hradec Králové Czech Republic; Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences Kamýcká 1176 165 00 Prague Czech Republic

University of Hradec Králové Faculty of Science Rokitanského 62 500 03 Hradec Králové Czech Republic; Holovousy Research and Breeding Institute Holovousy 129 508 01 Holovousy Czech Republic

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