scholarly journals Evidence for Rapoport’s rule and latitudinal patterns in the global distribution and diversity of alien bird species

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 1362-1372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellie E. Dyer ◽  
David W. Redding ◽  
Phillip Cassey ◽  
Ben Collen ◽  
Tim M. Blackburn
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 16-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Ferenc ◽  
Ondřej Sedláček ◽  
Roman Fuchs ◽  
Maurizio Fraissinet ◽  
David Storch

Abstract The probability of occurrence of bird species in towns/cities increases with their range sizes, and Rapoport’s rule states that range sizes increase with latitude. To test the hypothesis that the increasing number of bird species persisting in cities at higher latitudes of Europe is linked to their larger range sizes, we compiled data on bird communities of: a) 41 urban bird atlases; b) 37 city core zones from published sources; c) regions of nine grid cells of the EBCC Atlas of European Breeding Birds around each city. We tested whether the proportion of species from particular regional bird assemblages entering cities (i.e., proportional richness) was related to the geographical position, mean range size of regional avifaunas, proportion of vegetated areas and city habitat heterogeneity. The mean range sizes of the observed and randomly selected urban avifaunas were contrasted. The proportional richness of urban avifaunas was positively related to the geographic position and mean range size of birds in regional assemblages. The evidence favoured range sizes if considering the European range sizes or latitudinal extents, but was limited for global range sizes. Randomizations tended to show larger range sizes for the real avifaunas than in the randomly selected ones. For urban core zones, the results were less clear-cut with some evidence only in favour of the European range sizes. No role of vegetation or habitat heterogeneity was found. In conclusion, while vegetation availability or heterogeneity did not show any effects, spatial position and range sizes of birds in regional assemblages seemed to influence the proportional richness of cities and their core zones. Factors correlated with spatial position (e.g., climate) might increase the attractivity of particular cities to birds. However, the effects of range sizes indicated that urbanization possibly has more negative impacts on the avifauna in the regions occupied by less widespread species.


2007 ◽  
Vol 274 (1614) ◽  
pp. 1189-1197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard G Davies ◽  
C. David L Orme ◽  
David Storch ◽  
Valerie A Olson ◽  
Gavin H Thomas ◽  
...  

A major goal of ecology is to determine the causes of the latitudinal gradient in global distribution of species richness. Current evidence points to either energy availability or habitat heterogeneity as the most likely environmental drivers in terrestrial systems, but their relative importance is controversial in the absence of analyses of global (rather than continental or regional) extent. Here we use data on the global distribution of extant continental and continental island bird species to test the explanatory power of energy availability and habitat heterogeneity while simultaneously addressing issues of spatial resolution, spatial autocorrelation, geometric constraints upon species' range dynamics, and the impact of human populations and historical glacial ice-cover. At the finest resolution (1°), topographical variability and temperature are identified as the most important global predictors of avian species richness in multi-predictor models. Topographical variability is most important in single-predictor models, followed by productive energy. Adjusting for null expectations based on geometric constraints on species richness improves overall model fit but has negligible impact on tests of environmental predictors. Conclusions concerning the relative importance of environmental predictors of species richness cannot be extrapolated from one biogeographic realm to others or the globe. Rather a global perspective confirms the primary importance of mountain ranges in high-energy areas.


Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1029
Author(s):  
Hua Liu ◽  
Ruoyun Yu ◽  
Jihong Huang ◽  
Yibo Liu ◽  
Runguo Zang ◽  
...  

The distribution of plant species diversity has long been a major focus on biogeography. Yet, the universality of the popular Rapoport’s rule remains controversial for endemic plants, as previous studies have focused more on broad-ranged species. Here, we collected data for 4418 endemic woody seed plant species across China, including trees, shrubs, and lianas, to explore the latitudinal patterns of species range size and richness, and test the relevant biogeographic law. The species range size distribution was examined for conformity with Rapoport’s rule using four methods (i.e., Steven’s, Pagel’s, the mid-point, and the across-species method). Spatial patterns of species richness along latitudinal gradient were also investigated by parabolic regression. Results showed that species range size increased with latitude for all species as well as by trees, shrubs and lianas, especially assessed by Pagel’s method. Species richness was highest at low latitude, where species range size was smallest, and decreased with increasing latitude. The species range size and richness of shrubs were maximum, followed by trees then lianas. These findings prove that Rapoport’s rule is strongly supported by latitudinal patterns of species distribution in Chinese endemic woody seed plants.


1996 ◽  
Vol 351 (1342) ◽  
pp. 897-912 ◽  

The attempt to identify and explain pattern in the extent of species’ geographical distributions at regional scales has been central to macroecology. However, with the exception of abundance, consistent relations between other variables and species geographic extent have not been forthcoming. One reason may be that studies often encompass the entire geographic ranges of only a fraction of the species in the taxon under consideration, setting biologically artificial boundaries to the area of study, and only revealing part of the pattern in question. Here, we examine patterns in the geographic range sizes of birds in the New World. By testing for patterns in the entire avifauna of a geographically isolated region (95% of species are endemic), we avoid many of the problems of previous studies. Most New World bird species have small geographic ranges, although the frequency distribution of logarithmically transformed ranges is left-skewed. The geographic range size-body size relation is approximately triangular. Small-bodied species may have either large or small ranges, whereas large-bodied species have only large ranges. Species threatened with extinction more often fall nearer to (or below) the lower edge defined by the majority of species in this triangle than do non-threatened species, suggesting that this represents the minimum area needed to sustain viable populations of species of different sizes. The maximum range size attained by species is relatively constant across body sizes, but falls short of the maximum possible given the land area of the New World, and so cannot be limited by this constraint. What does limit maximum range size is thus unclear. There is a latitudinal gradient in the size of species geographic ranges. Species which have the latitudinal mid-point of their geographic ranges at high latitudes either side of the equator tend to have large range sizes, whereas those with mid-points at lower latitudes tend to have small range sizes (as expected from Rapoport’s rule). However, this pattern is not symmetrical about the equator, but rather, at about 17° N. It appears to be a consequence of the biogeography of the New World, and implies that mechanisms suggested to explain Rapoport’s rule based on climatic variability are incorrect. Migrant birds have larger geographic ranges, on average, than do residents. They are also larger-bodied, and tend to inhabit more northerly latitudes than residents, but their larger ranges are not the simple consequence of these other patterns. The patterns we demonstrate, in particular those relating to maximum range size across body sizes and to latitudinal variation in range size, have significant consequences for the understanding of what determines species geographic range sizes.


PLoS Biology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. e2000942 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellie E. Dyer ◽  
Phillip Cassey ◽  
David W. Redding ◽  
Ben Collen ◽  
Victoria Franks ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico Morelli ◽  
Yanina

ContextThe negative association between elevation and species richness is a well-recognized pattern in macro-ecology. ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to investigate changes in functional evenness of breeding bird communities along an elevation gradient in Europe. MethodsUsing the bird data from the EBCC Atlas of European Breeding Birds we estimated an index of functional evenness which can be assumed as a measure of the potential resilience of communities.ResultsOur findings confirm the existence of a negative association between elevation and bird species richness in all European eco regions. However, we also explored a novel aspect of this relationship, important for conservation: Our findings provide evidence at large spatial scale of a negative association between the functional evenness (potential community resilience) and elevation, independent of the eco region. We also found that the Natura2000 protected areas covers the territory most in need of protection, those characterized by bird communities with low potential resilience, in hilly and mountainous areas.ConclusionsThese results draw attention to European areas occupied by bird communities characterized by a potential lower capacity to respond to strong ecological changes, and, therefore, potentially more exposed to risks for conservation.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gretchen F. Wagner ◽  
Emeline Mourocq ◽  
Michael Griesser

Biparental care systems are a valuable model to examine conflict, cooperation, and coordination between unrelated individuals, as the product of the interactions between the parents influences the fitness of both individuals. A common experimental technique for testing coordinated responses to changes in the costs of parental care is to temporarily handicap one parent, inducing a higher cost of providing care. However, dissimilarity in experimental designs of these studies has hindered interspecific comparisons of the patterns of cost distribution between parents and offspring. Here we apply a comparative experimental approach by handicapping a parent at nests of five bird species using the same experimental treatment. In some species, a decrease in care by a handicapped parent was compensated by its partner, while in others the increased costs of care were shunted to the offspring. Parental responses to an increased cost of care primarily depended on the total duration of care that offspring require. However, life history pace (i.e., adult survival and fecundity) did not influence parental decisions when faced with a higher cost of caring. Our study highlights that a greater attention to intergenerational trade-offs is warranted, particularly in species with a large burden of parental care. Moreover, we demonstrate that parental care decisions may be weighed more against physiological workload constraints than against future prospects of reproduction, supporting evidence that avian species may devote comparable amounts of energy into survival, regardless of life history strategy.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gretchen F. Wagner ◽  
Emeline Mourocq ◽  
Michael Griesser

Predation of offspring is the main cause of reproductive failure in many species, and the mere fear of offspring predation shapes reproductive strategies. Yet, natural predation risk is ubiquitously variable and can be unpredictable. Consequently, the perceived prospect of predation early in a reproductive cycle may not reflect the actual risk to ensuing offspring. An increased variance in investment across offspring has been linked to breeding in unpredictable environments in several taxa, but has so far been overlooked as a maternal response to temporal variation in predation risk. Here, we experimentally increased the perceived risk of nest predation prior to egg-laying in seven bird species. Species with prolonged parent-offspring associations increased their intra-brood variation in egg, and subsequently offspring, size. High risk to offspring early in a reproductive cycle can favour a risk-spreading strategy particularly in species with the greatest opportunity to even out offspring quality after fledging.


2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. SEITZ

Modernization of agriculture, economic development and population increase after the end of the Thirty Years' War caused authorities in many parts of Germany to decree the eradication of so-called pest animals, including the House Sparrow. Farmers were given targets, and had to deliver the heads of sparrows in proportion to the size of their farms or pay fines. At the end of the eighteenth century German ornithologists argued against the eradication of the sparrows. During the mid-nineteenth century, C. L. Gloger, the pioneer of bird protection in Germany, emphasized the value of the House Sparrow in controlling insect plagues. Many decrees were abolished because either they had not been obeyed, or had resulted in people protecting sparrows so that they always had enough for their “deliveries”. Surprisingly, various ornithologists, including Ernst Hartert and the most famous German bird conservationist Freiherr Berlepsch, joined in the war against sparrows at the beginning of the twentieth century, because sparrows were regarded as competitors of more useful bird species. After the Second World War, sparrows were poisoned in large numbers. Persecution of sparrows ended in Germany in the 1970s. The long period of persecution had a significant but not long-lasting impact on House Sparrow populations, and therefore cannot be regarded as a factor in the recent decline of this species in urban and rural areas of western and central Europe.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sutarto Kusuma Indra ◽  
Kustiati Kustiati ◽  
Rafdinal Rafdinal

Quality degradation, modification, and habitat loss are significant threats to bird species. The natural habitat of birds has been modified into residential land and facilities to meet the needs of human life as happened at Tanjungpura University. This study aims to determine of birds species at Tanjungpura University. Observations were carried out from January to March 2019. The method used in collecting the data from bird was “Encounter rates” which was conducted in the morning starting at 6 – 9 am and at 3 - 6 pm. The data obtained were analyzed with the formula of simple abundance scale and frequency of attendance. The birds found at Universitas Tanjungpura are 28 species classified into 23 genera, 17 families, and seven orders. Birds found to have an abundance order scale are classified into abundant, general, frequent and, unusual categories. Birds included in the abundant category are Collocalia fuciphaga and Passer montanus. The types of bird foods at Tanjungpura University consist of frugivore, insectivore, granivore, herbivore, carnivore, piscivore, omnivore, molluscivore, and nectarivore. The value of attendance frequency have range between 10-100%. The bird species with highest frequency of attendance’s value is Passer montanus, Pycnonotus aurigaster, Pycnonotus goiavier, Collocalia fuciphaga, and Anthreptes malacensis.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document