Directional effects of biotic homogenization of bird communities in Mexican seasonal forests

The condor

Adolfo G. Navarro-Sigüenza¹  Leopoldo D. Vázquez-Reyes²  María del Coro Arizmendi³  Héctor O. Godínez-Álvarez³ 

[1] 1Museo de Zoología, Departamento de Biología Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico;1Museo de Zoología, Departamento de Biología Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico.2Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Coyoacán, Distrito Federal, Mexico;3Laboratorio de Ecología, Unidad de Biotecnología y Prototipos, Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Los Reyes Ixtacala, Tlalnepantla, Estado de México, Mexico

关键词: anthropogenic perturbation;    beta diversity;    biodiversity;    tropical dry forest;    oak forest;   

DOI  :  10.1650/CONDOR-16-116.1

学科分类：动物科学

来源: Central Ornithology Publication Office

【 摘 要 】

Biotic homogenization—the erosion of biological differences between ecosystems owing to human perturbation—is a trait of the global biodiversity crisis that can affect tropical dry forest biodiversity. We tested whether biotic homogenization was occurring in resident forest bird communities in west-central Mexico. We conducted point-count surveys to assess biotic dissimilarity between resident bird communities in tropical deciduous and oak forests in the upper Balsas River basin across 3 levels of anthropogenic perturbation: primary forest, second-growth forest, and human settlements. We detected a reduction in species richness and taxonomic dissimilarity with increasing anthropogenic effects, due to a directional pattern in which lowland species expanded their elevational distributions up into oak forests. These results point to a need to change agricultural strategies to mitigate impacts on natural vegetation cover and biodiversity.

【 授权许可】

CC BY