Almost ‘since ever’ ecologists have made attempts at the generalization of various site-specific, species-specific and timespecific situations, including different classifications of species, based on different principles and prepared for different purposes. This paper, presenting a conceptual model for selecting species of similar life-history pattern to other species and providing an example using birds as a model system, represents that current in the ecology. All bird species regarded as nesting in a given area of the mosaic landscape in southern Poland were described with respect to nine variables (nest type, nest location, food habits, place and way of foraging, migration status, number of broods, clutch size, incubation and fledging periods), grouped into 43 categories. Cluster analysis was then used to distinguish objectively species displaying similar life history traits and environmental adaptations into unique life-history ‘strategies’. The results of an exemplary analysis of variability in the density, domination, number of species and turnover rate in particular strategies, depending on the size of study plots, their structure, degree of isolation and the characteristic features of their surroundings, using regression and canonical correlation techniques, indicate the suitability of this approach to testing detailed hypotheses connected e.g. with studies on the response of species to different habitat conditions. The methods applied allow one to distinguish, in an objective way, the groups of species displaying similarities with respect to life history traits and environmental adaptations, in spite of the fact that the method of describing variables in cluster analysis may determine a different allocation of species to groups. A model, as described, could allow conservation principles to be developed for species of similar distribution, ecological feature or life history; especially for those species which face with population declines and for which no previous patterns have been established.
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