scholarly journals The biotic interactions hypothesis partially explains bird species turnover along a lowland Neotropical precipitation gradient

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 491-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Pablo Gomez ◽  
José Miguel Ponciano ◽  
Gustavo A. Londoño ◽  
Scott K. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Species Turnover ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Precipitation Gradient

scholarly journals Climatic effects on turnover of lowland forest bird communities across a precipitation gradient

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Pablo Gomez ◽  
José Miguel Ponciano ◽  
Scott K. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Community Composition ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Environmental Filtering ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Dry Forest ◽  
Precipitation Gradient ◽  
Climatic Effects ◽  
Lowland Forest ◽  
Abundance And Distribution

AbstractOne of the main goals of community ecology is to understand the influence of the abiotic environment on the abundance and distribution of species. It has been hypothesized that dry forests are harsher environments than wet forests, which leads to the prediction that environmental filtering should be a more important determinant of patterns of species abundance and composition than in wet forest, where biotic interactions or random assembly should be more important. We attempt to understand the influence of rainfall on the abundance and distribution of bird species along a steep precipitation gradient in an inter-Andean valley in Colombia. We gathered data on species distributions, abundance, morphological traits and phylogenetic relationships to determine the influence of rainfall on the taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic turnover of species along the Magdalena Valley. We demonstrate that there is a strong turnover of community composition at the limit of the dry forest. The taxonomic turnover is steeper than the phylogenetic turnover, suggesting that replacement of closely related species accounts for a disproportionate number of changes along the gradient. We found evidence for environmental filtering in dry forest as species tend to be more tolerant of higher temperature ranges, stronger rainfall seasonality and lower minimum rainfall. On the other hand, wet forest species tend to compete actively for nest space but not for the resources associated with the axes we measured. Our results suggest that rainfall is a strong determinant of community composition when comparing localities above and below the 2400 mm rainfall isocline.

A Bird's-Eye View of Pollination: Biotic Interactions as Drivers of Adaptation and Community Change

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 477-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anton Pauw
Keyword(s):  
Community Composition ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Community Change ◽  
Plant Evolution ◽  
Relative Fitness ◽  
Fitness Advantage ◽  
Bird Evolution ◽  
Composition I

Nectarivorous birds and bird-pollinated plants are linked by a network of interactions. Here I ask how these interactions influence evolution and community composition. I find near complete evidence for the effect of birds on plant evolution. Experiments show the process in action—birds select among floral phenotypes in a population—and comparative studies find the resulting pattern—bird-pollinated species have long-tubed, red flowers with large nectar volumes. Speciation is accomplished in one “magical” step when adaptation for bird pollination brings about divergent morphology and reproductive isolation. In contrast, evidence that plants drive bird evolution is fragmentary. Studies of selection on population-level variation are lacking, but the resulting pattern is clear—nectarivorous birds have evolved a remarkable number of times and often have long bills and brush-tipped or tubular tongues. At the level of the ecological guild, birds select among plant species via an effect on seed set and thus determine plant community composition. Plants simultaneously influence the relative fitness of bird species and thus determine the composition of the bird guild. Interaction partners may give one guild member a constant fitness advantage, resulting in competitive exclusion and community change, or may act as limiting resources that depress the fitness of frequent species, thus stabilizing community composition and allowing the coexistence of diversity within bird and plant guilds.

scholarly journals Scale dependence of biotic homogenisation by urbanisation: a comparison of urban bird communities between central Argentina and northern Finland

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas M. Leveau ◽  
Jukka Jokimäki ◽  
Marja-Liisa Kaisanlahti-Jokimäki
Keyword(s):  
Species Turnover ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Bird Community ◽  
Bird Communities ◽  
Urban Habitats ◽  
Suburban Areas ◽  
Biotic Homogenisation ◽  
Community Dissimilarity ◽  
The Town

AbstractRecent studies showed contrasting results about the homogenising force of urbanisation on bird community composition at large and regional scales. We studied whether urbanisation promotes the homogenisation of wintering bird communities and if this varies when comparing towns located within a specific region and towns located in two different biomes of two countries. We used both similarity indices based on the presence/absence data and the abundance data in comparing communities. Processes governing bird community dissimilarity between urbanisation levels were examined with the partitioning of Sörensen index in species turnover and nestedness. We made bird surveys in town centres and suburban habitats of three cities located in the Pampean region of Argentina and in the boreal region of Finland using a single-visit study plot method. Rarefacted species richness did not differ amongst the town centres between the countries, but it was higher in the suburban areas of Argentina than in Finland. At the country-level comparison, we found a higher similarity amongst the town centres than amongst the suburban areas; whereas at the regional comparison, similarity between town centres was comparable to the similarity between suburban areas. The use of an abundance-based index produced a higher similarity between town centre communities of both countries than when using a presence-based index. The dissimilarity between habitats in Argentina was related to nestedness and to species turnover in Finland. Our results indicate that urban-based biotic homogenisation of bird communities is dependent on the scale used, being more evident when comparing cities of different biomes where the same and abundant bird species, such as sparrows and doves, dominate. At the regional scale, quite a high beta-diversity can still be found within urban habitats. Processes of community dissimilarity between urban habitats may differ according to the regional pool of species, being more related to nestedness toward the tropics.

scholarly journals Atlantic forest bird communities provide different but not fewer functions after habitat loss

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1811) ◽  
pp. 20142844 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greet De Coster ◽  
Cristina Banks-Leite ◽  
Jean Paul Metzger
Keyword(s):  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Atlantic Forest ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Habitat Loss ◽  
Species Turnover ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Ecological Groups ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Functional Integrity ◽  
New Community

Habitat loss often reduces the number of species as well as functional diversity. Dramatic effects to species composition have also been shown, but changes to functional composition have so far been poorly documented, partly owing to a lack of appropriate indices. We here develop three new community indices (i.e. functional integrity, community integrity of ecological groups and community specialization ) to investigate how habitat loss affects the diversity and composition of functional traits and species. We used data from more than 5000 individuals of 137 bird species captured in 57 sites in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, a highly endangered biodiversity hotspot. Results indicate that habitat loss leads to a decrease in functional integrity while measures of functional diversity remain unchanged or are even positively affected. Changes to functional integrity were caused by (i) a decrease in the provisioning of some functions, and an increase in others; (ii) strong within-guild species turnover; and (iii) a replacement of specialists by generalists. Hence, communities from more deforested sites seem to provide different but not fewer functions. We show the importance of investigating changes to both diversity and composition of functional traits and species, as the effects of habitat loss on ecosystem functioning may be more complex than previously thought. Crucially, when only functional diversity is assessed, important changes to ecological functions may remain undetected and negative effects of habitat loss underestimated, thereby imperiling the application of effective conservation actions.

scholarly journals Co-occurrence variation explains the low host dependence of ambrosia beetles along altitude gradients in SW China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fang Luo ◽  
LINGZENG MENG ◽  
Jian Wang ◽  
Yan-Hong Liu
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Hierarchical Modeling ◽  
Species Turnover ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Ambrosia Beetle ◽  
Minor Role ◽  
Climatic Gradient ◽  
Distribution Models ◽  
Ambrosia Beetles

Abstract Background Separation of biotic and abiotic impacts on species diversity distribution patterns across a significant climatic gradient is a challenge in the study of diversity maintenance mechanisms. The basic task is to reconcile scale-dependent effects of abiotic and biotic processes on species distribution models. However, Eltonian noise hypothesis predicted that the effects of biotic interactions will be averaged out at macroscales, and there are many empirical observations that biotic interactions would constrain species distributions at micro-ecological scales. Here, we used a hierarchical modeling method to detect the host specificities of ambrosia beetles (Scolytinae and Platypodinae) with their dependent tree communities across a steep climatic gradient, which was embedded within a relatively homogenous spatial niche. Results Species turnover of both trees and ambrosia beetles have a relatively similar pattern, characterized by the climatic proxy at a regional scale, but not at local scales. This pattern confirmed the Eltonian noise hypothesis wherein emphasis was on influences of macro-climate on local biotic interactions between trees and hosted ambrosia beetle communities, whereas local biotic relations, represented by host specificity dependence, were regionally conserved. Conclusions At a confined spatial scale, cross-taxa comparisons of co-occurrence highlighted the importance of the organism’s dispersal. The effects of tree abundance and phylogeny diversity on ambrosia beetle diversity were, to a large extent, indirect, operating via changes in ambrosia beetle abundance through spatial and temporal dynamics of resources distribution. Tree host dependence plays a minor role on the hosted ambrosia beetle community in this concealed wood decomposing interacting system.

scholarly journals Impact of Urbanization to an Island and the Continent: Species Turnover and Nestedness in Neotropical Bird Assemblages

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabina A. Caula ◽  
Virginia Sanz D'Angelo
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Species Turnover ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Similar Species ◽  
Urban Gradient ◽  
Building Density ◽  
Urbanized Areas ◽  
Urban Matrix

Islands are well-known as particular and vulnerable ecosystems with evolutionary histories, environmental characteristics, and original communities different from those of continents. On the contrary, urban environments are recent, artificial, and structurally similar among distant regions. To assess the relative importance of regional and local processes on urban biota, we chose two urban environments, i.e., one on the mainland and another on an island in the same ecoregion. We asked whether the urbanization process affects the avian biodiversity of the ISLAND in the same way as in the continent. We defined an urban gradient with three levels of building density, namely, patches of native vegetation (remnant woodlands in the urban matrix), medium density urbanized areas that maintain vegetation along the streets and gardens, and residential areas with less vegetation cover and higher building density. In each geographical locality, we selected three sites (replicates) for each level of the urban gradient and did bird surveys. We found two times as many species in the urban landscape of the continent (69) as on the island (35), with the analogous richness decrease along the gradient in both regions. Species similarity was higher between urbanized sites of both regions compared with the similarity between woodlands and urbanized sites, showing that urban matrix filters similar species of each pool regionally. Individual species responded to urban structure in different ways. We found 32% of bird species were urban exploiters, 48% urban tolerant, and 20% urban avoiders in both regions. However, some species showed different frequencies of occurrence on the island and the continent. Species turnover contributed more than richness differences to species dissimilarity along the urban gradient on the continent. Contrarily, the nestedness component (i.e., species being a strict subset of the species at a richer site) was higher on the island. We concluded that the negative impact of highly urbanized areas on birds was stronger on the island than on the continent. Our results may help to assess the implications of beta-diversity loss, especially on islands.

scholarly journals Biotic interactions are the dominant drivers of phylogenetic and functional structure in bird communities along a tropical elevational gradient

The Auk ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 136 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy J Boyce ◽  
Subir Shakya ◽  
Frederick H Sheldon ◽  
Robert G Moyle ◽  
Thomas E Martin
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Interspecific Competition ◽  
Species Turnover ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Relative Strength ◽  
Resource Acquisition ◽  
Similar Species ◽  
Cold Temperatures ◽  
Tropical Mountains

Abstract Understanding how biotic and abiotic interactions influence community assembly and composition is a fundamental goal in community ecology. Addressing this issue is particularly tractable along elevational gradients in tropical mountains that feature substantial abiotic gradients and rates of species turnover. We examined elevational patterns of avian community structure on 2 mountains in Malaysian Borneo to assess changes in the relative strength of biotic interactions and abiotic constraints. In particular, we used metrics based on (1) phylogenetic relatedness and (2) functional traits associated with both resource acquisition and tolerance of abiotic challenges to identify patterns and causes of elevational differences in community structure. High elevation communities were composed of more phylogenetically and functionally similar species than would be expected by chance. Resource acquisition traits, in particular, were clustered at high elevations, suggesting low resource and habitat diversity were important drivers of those communities. Traits typically associated with tolerance of cold temperatures and low atmospheric pressure showed no elevational patterns. All traits were neutral or overdispersed at low elevations suggesting an absence of strong abiotic filters or an increased influence of interspecific competition. However, relative bill size, which is important for thermoregulation, was larger in low elevation communities, suggesting abiotic factors were also influential there. Regardless of metric, clustered and neutral communities were more frequent than overdispersed communities overall, implying that interspecific competition among close relatives may not be a pervasive driver of elevational distribution and community structure of tropical birds. Overall, our analyses reveal that a diverse set of predominantly biotic factors underlie elevational variation in community structure on tropical mountains.

Changes in populations of bird species in roadside softwood scrub remnants/farmland and open eucalypt forest in south-east Queensland, 1981 to 1993

1995 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 232 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. J. Leach
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Management ◽  
Species Turnover ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Common Species ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
Base Line ◽  
Eucalypt Forest ◽  
Noisy Miner ◽  
The Status ◽  
Monitoring Procedure

Long-term monitoring of bird species provides information on base-line populations and population trends required to ensure that habitat management is effective for their conservation. Two surveys in both spring and autumn over 12 years monitored populations at fixed points in roadside softwood scrub remnants plus adjoining farmland (softwood/farmland) and in eucalypt open forest in south-east Queensland. The main aims were to determine the status of species in each habitat, especially whether the status of any species was changing, and to assess the usefulness of the monitoring procedure. In all, 92 species were observed; 79 in the softwood/farmland and 74 in the eucalypt forest. From 49 to 56 species were observed each year in softwood/farmland and 34 to 46 in eucalypt forest. Annual species turnover in softwood/farmland was about half that in eucalypt forest; 39% of all species were observed every year in the former habitat, but only 19% in the latter. The Torresian Crow was most often observed in softwood/farmland and the Noisy Miner in eucalypt forest. The Torresian Crow was the only species to be among the five most observed in each habitat. Among other common species, 95% or more observations of Bar-shouldered Doves, Superb Fairy-wrens, Yellow Thornbills and Silvereyes were in softwood/farmland, whereas for Weebills, White-throated Gerygones, Buff-rumped Thornbills, White-throated Treecreepers and White-throated Honeyeaters at least 95% of observations were in eucalypt forest, confirming their strong habitat specificities. The number of birds observed increased linearly for eight species in softwood/farmland and six species in eucalypt forest, and decreased for five and four species, respectively, over the 12 years. The most significant trends were for the Crested Pigeon (increase) and Willie Wagtail (decrease) in softwood/farmland, while Peaceful Dove and Rufous Whistler decreased in both habitats. Several species which increased adapt well to partial clearing of woody vegetation and aggressively exclude others, e.g., Noisy Miner, butcherbirds and Pied Currawong. The trends may reflect insidious degradation of habitats. The main value of the survey method was for detecting changes of species that could be used as indicator species ? those that respond most rapidly to habitat change. While the method was efficient, wildlife managers would need to use it regularly to maintain skills, especially because most observations are of bird calls.

scholarly journals Disentangling effects of abiotic factors and biotic interactions on cross-taxon congruence in species turnover patterns of plants, moths and beetles

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meichun Duan ◽  
Yunhui Liu ◽  
Zhenrong Yu ◽  
Jacques Baudry ◽  
Liangtao Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Turnover ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Biotic Interactions

scholarly journals Acnistus arborescens (Solanaceae): an important food resource for birds in an Atlantic Forest site, Southeastern Brazil

Rodriguésia ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Izar Araujo Aximoff ◽  
Hudson Martins Soares ◽  
Gabriel Bernadello
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
National Park ◽  
Food Resource ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Southeastern Brazil ◽  
Reproductive Phenology ◽  
Forest Site ◽  
Floral Nectar ◽  
The Family

Abstract Biotic interactions related to the consumption of floral nectar and fruits as food resource by birds promoting plant pollination and dispersal, are essential for forest ecosystem functioning. The daily interaction of birds with Acnistus arborescens (Solanaceae), a shrub-tree, was studied in the Itatiaia National Park and its surroundings. Reproductive phenology was monthly monitored in eighteen individuals in 2015. During flowering (August to November) and fruiting (September to December) the interaction birds-plant was studied. Flowers were visited by seven hummingbird species and several insects. Fruit set was 87.3%. Thirty-five bird species of eleven families consumed its fruit. Thraupidae with sixteen bird species was the family responsible for most of its frugivory (53.9%). Considering that more than 10% of the birds richness of Itatiaia National Park - INP interacts with A. arborescens, it can be considered an important plant species in maintaining local bird diverstity. Thus, for attracting many birds, A. arborescens can be used in the process of recovery of degraded areas, and also as a focal plant species for environmental education programs and birdwatching.

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