Pedro X. Astudillo, Ingo Grass, D. Siddons, Dana G. Schabo, N. Farwig
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引用次数: 6
Abstract
Summary. Habitat loss and landscape fragmentation are important drivers of changes in biodiversity. In fragmented landscapes, bird species are able to use multiple forest patches that may therefore share an important portion of the regional biodiversity. In turn, these patches are linked through their shared bird diversity (i.e. species-habitat networks). Identifying the importance of nodes (e.g. forest patches) in species-habitat networks is increasingly important to improve conservation planning. Within this network approach, the relative importance of patches for birds can be identified via centrality indices-measures of the magnitude of shared bird diversity of patches across the entire network (i.e. patch centrality). Here, we tested for changes in patch centrality within bird species-patch networks of two habitat guilds, forest specialists and generalists, in relation to patch area, patch shape irregularity and within-patch habitat characteristics across 15 Polylepis woodland patches in a páramo landscape of southern Ecuador. Patch centrality for forest specialists decreased with greater influence of surrounding páramo plants, i.e. an increasing proportion of bunch-grasses and small shrubs, in the within-patch habitat and was unaffected by either patch area or patch shape irregularity. On the other hand, patch centrality for generalists was positively influenced by patch shape irregularity but was unaffected by patch area or the influence of surrounding páramo plants in the within-patch habitat. Patch centrality reveals that the relative importance of Polylepis woodlands lies in their habitat quality. Forest specialists are dependent on mature Polylepis woodland patches, while generalists benefit from the natural irregular shape of the woodlands. Finally, a species-habitat network approach facilitates the recognition of important Polylepis patches and their characteristics for conservation of the Andean bird community at a landscape scale.—Astudillo, P.X., Grass, I., Siddons, D.C., Schabo, D.G. & Farwig, N. (2020). Centrality in species-habitat networks reveals the importance of habitat quality for high-Andean birds in Polylepis woodlands. Ardeola, 67: 307-324.
期刊介绍:
Ardeola: International Journal of Ornithology is the scientific journal of SEO/BirdLife, the Spanish Ornithological Society. The journal had a regional focus when it was first published, in 1954. Since then, and particular during the past two decades, the journal has expanded its thematic and geographical scope. It is now a fully international forum for research on all aspects of ornithology. We thus welcome studies within the fields of basic biology, ecology, behaviour, conservation and biogeography, especially those arising from hypothesis-based research. Although we have a long publication history of Mediterranean and Neotropical studies, we accept papers on investigations worldwide.
Each volume of Ardeola has two parts, published annually in January and July. The main body of each issue comprises full-length original articles (Papersand Review articles) and shorter notes on methodology or stimulating findings (Short Communications). The publication language is English, with summaries, figure legends and table captions also in Spanish. Ardeolaalso publishes critical Book Reviewsand PhD-Dissertation Summaries; summarising ornithological theses defended in Spain. Finally there are two Spanish-language sections, Ornithological News; summarising significant recent observations of birds in Spain, and Observations of Rare Birds in Spain, the annual reports of the Spanish Rarities Committee.