On the similarity among distant and closeby bird communities: the influence of human land use

FILLOY, J.; ZURITA, G.A.; CORBELLI, J.; BELLOCQ, M.I.

ACTA OECOLOGICA-INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY

GAUTHIER-VILLARS/EDITIONS ELSEVIER

Lugar: Paris; Año: 2010 vol. 36 p. 333 - 338

1146-609X

The search for mechanisms determining community composition is currently in the core of ecological research. Human land use may promote species invasions or local extinctions by altering the environmental conditions, which drastically change the composition of local communities. Understanding community responses to human activities will help to develop sound land use strategies. We examined bird species composition and the number of native species in two land uses (soybean cropfields and eucalypt plantations) in different biomes (grassland and forest). Birds were surveyed with the point count technique, and ordination analysis, similarity indices and factorial ANOVA were used to analyse and compare bird assemblages. Within each biome, the composition of bird communities differed between soybean cropfields and eucalypt plantations. The composition of bird communities within the same land use type (either soybean or eucalypt) but different biomes was similar. In the forest, eucalypt plantations held a higher proportion of native bird species than soybean cropfields. The opposite pattern was observed in the grassland sites where a higher proportion of native species were recorded in cropfields than in plantations. The composition of local communities in human-modified ecosystems seems to be strongly influenced by local conditions derived from the particular land use. Plantations and cropfields were less detrimental to native birds in contexts dominated by forest and grasslands, respectively. Although habitat loss and conversion are detrimental to native species, our results suggest that a better persistance of native species may be achieved by taking into account the regional context in which human activities are developed. These findings should be useful for land use strategies and regional planning.