Bird community dynamics across the rice cycle in small‐scale rainfed floodplain fields in West Africa

Rice is one of the world's most vital staple crops and covers extensive areas across tropical and subtropical regions. In West Africa, rice is largely cultivated by smallholders using traditional, low‐intensity methods, and the ecological value of these systems remains poorly quantified. We characterized bird communities in small‐scale rainfed floodplain rice fields in Guinea‐Bissau, using taxonomic and functional trait‐based approaches, and examined temporal variation in bird abundance, species‐richness and functional structure across the rice growth cycle. Birds were surveyed along nine transects in seven fields over two consecutive growing seasons (2021–2022). We calculated community‐weighted means (CWMs) and analysed temporal dynamics using generalized additive mixed models (GAMMs). We recorded 150 bird species, representing 29% of the national avifauna. Average species‐richness declined through the rice cycle, from 36 ± 3.4 to 23 ± 2.9 species per transect, while functional groups showed contrasting temporal patterns. Granivores and invertivores dominated the assemblage (CWM = 52% and 12%, respectively), with invertivore abundance and species‐richness peaking during early growth stages. Overall, the results demonstrate that structurally heterogeneous, low‐input floodplain rice systems, characterized by narrow fields with vegetated bunds and scattered trees, support high taxonomic and functional bird diversity and may contribute substantially to biodiversity conservation within West African agricultural landscapes.