Above‑ground biomass and high temperatures are more important than productivity for the spatial pattern of bird richness in Subtropical Dry forests of Argentina

PATRICIA V. ZELAYA; SOFÍA MARINARO; PEDRO G. BLENDINGER; LEANDRO MACCHI; FACUNDO X. PALACIO; IGNACIO GASPARRI

COMMUNITY ECOLOGY

Springer

Año: 2021

1585-8553

The diferent ways in which biodiversity is distributed on Earth have always intrigued ecologists, promoting constant researchto elucidate the causes and mechanisms that guide their spatial patterns. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed toexplain biodiversity across the world. In South American Subtropical Dry forests, a global deforestation hotspot, this type ofresearch remains poorly explored. We aimed to evaluate the response of forests bird communities to diferent biophysical andenvironmental factors analyzed simultaneously under three major hypotheses in ecology. Generalized linear mixed models(GLMMs) were used to analyze the seasonal richness and relative frequency in birds for 27 forest sites scattered through theDry Chaco, Argentina, under the infuence of the following predictors: (a) mean seasonal temperature, (b) forest biomass,(c) forest primary productivity using the NDVI (Normalized Diference Vegetation Index) and (d) landscape heterogeneity.Our results indicate that forest sites with high biomass and temperature values and with low landscape heterogeneity holdhigher bird richness, without any infuence of forest productivity. The relative frequency was higher in areas with high temperatures and high landscape heterogeneity around, although with low values of forest productivity. Overall, we highlightthat the spatial pattern of bird communities in the Argentinean Dry Chaco forests is determined by areas with high biomass,high temperatures and mainly low landscape transformation in the surroundings. These associations must be considered infuture decisions on land use for better territory planning and the conservation of these important areas for bird diversity.