Habitat-specific vegetation and seasonal drivers of bird community structure and function in southern Patagonian forests.

G MARTÍNEZ PASTUR; MV LENCINAS; E GALLO; MC DE CRUZ; ML BORLA; R SOLER ESTEBAN; CB ANDERSON

COMMUNITY ECOLOGY

AKADEMIAI KIADO RT

Lugar: Budapest; Año: 2015 vol. 16 p. 55 - 65

1585-8553

Biodiversity conservation is a joint goal of ecological scientists and natural resource managers, requiring knowledge about the drivers that influence the structure and function of biotic assemblages. In southern Patagonian Nothofagus forests, birds are the most abundant and diverse vertebrates. Patagonian birds are known to have different requirements for nesting, breeding and feeding, but baseline information is lacking regarding their auto-ecology and community ecology. Therefore, we chose this group to analyse habitat and seasonal drivers of community dynamics; for conservation purposes, this information is requisite to better manage Nothofagus forest landscapes and their associated biota. We first characterized forest structure and understory floristic composition in mixed broadleaved forests of deciduous and deciduous-evergreen species on the southern coast of Tierra del Fuego National Park, Argentina. At each site, bird assemblages were described using point counts, checklists and mist-netting. Bird species richness, density and mass between habitat and seasonal variables were analysed with ANOVAs and multivariate methods. Forest structure and understory plant communities influenced avian abundance and assemblage. Additionally, the variations observed between seasons were interpreted as a result of differential uses by particular species of each habitat type during certain times of year. Finally, it was not possible to define a particular forest type with greater conservation value for birds; each had a specific assemblage of bird species. Consequently, managers must ensure a full representation of habitats to conserve the region?s bird diversity, a requirement which also has been described for forest invertebrates and understory plants.