Dataset Information

Treeline ecotones shape the distribution of avian species richness and functional diversity in south temperate mountains.

ABSTRACT: Mountains produce distinct environmental gradients that may constrain or facilitate both the presence of avian species and/or specific combinations of functional traits. We addressed species richness and functional diversity to understand the relative importance of habitat structure and elevation in shaping avian diversity patterns in the south temperate Andes, Chile. During 2010-2018, we conducted 2202 point-counts in four mountain habitats (successional montane forest, old-growth montane forest, subalpine, and alpine) from 211 to 1,768 m in elevation and assembled trait data associated with resource use for each species to estimate species richness and functional diversity and turnover. We detected 74 species. Alpine specialists included 16 species (22%) occurring only above treeline with a mean elevational range of 298 m, while bird communities below treeline (78%) occupied a mean elevational range of 1,081 m. Treeline was an inflection line, above which species composition changed by 91% and there was a greater turnover in functional traits (2-3 times greater than communities below treeline). Alpine birds were almost exclusively migratory, inhabiting a restricted elevational range, and breeding in rock cavities. We conclude that elevation and habitat heterogeneity structure avian trait distributions and community composition, with a diverse ecotonal sub-alpine and a distinct alpine community.

SUBMITTER: Altamirano TA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7595238 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Treeline ecotones shape the distribution of avian species richness and functional diversity in south temperate mountains.

Altamirano Tomás A TA de Zwaan Devin R DR Ibarra José Tomás JT Wilson Scott S Martin Kathy K

Scientific reports 20201028 1

Mountains produce distinct environmental gradients that may constrain or facilitate both the presence of avian species and/or specific combinations of functional traits. We addressed species richness and functional diversity to understand the relative importance of habitat structure and elevation in shaping avian diversity patterns in the south temperate Andes, Chile. During 2010-2018, we conducted 2202 point-counts in four mountain habitats (successional montane forest, old-growth montane fores ...[more]

PMID: 33116173

Similar Datasets

Project description:Mountains are well-suited systems to disentangle the factors driving distribution of parasites due to their heterogeneity of climatic and habitat conditions. However, the information about the relative importance of environmental factors governing the distribution of avian haemosporidians on temperate mountains is very limited. The main goal of the present study is to identify the factors determining prevalence and richness in avian haemosporidians (Plasmodium, Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon) at the community level along elevational gradients on two mountain ranges located around the northern and southern limits of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain). We used samples from 68 avian species and 1,460 breeding individuals caught over widespread woodland and open habitats. Our findings confirmed the importance of climatic variables explaining prevalence and richness on Iberian mountains. However, landscape variables and other factors named host richness and migration behaviour explained more variation than climatic ones. Plasmodium genus preferred open and warm habitats. Water sources were also important for the southern but not for the northern mountain. Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon showed affinities for woodland areas. Climatic conditions for Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon were dependent on the mountain range suggesting some adaptation of avian haemosporidian and their invertebrate vectors to the climatic particularities of both mountain massifs. In contrast to Plasmodium and Haemoproteus genera, Leucocytozoon prevalence and richness values were significantly higher in the southern mountain range. Overall, our findings at the community level has enriched the relative weight and effect direction of environmental factors governing the distribution and prevalence of the avian haemosporidian community. Also, our results provide a caution message about the precision of predictive models on parasite distributions based on climatic variables, since such predictions could overestimate the effect of climate change scenarios on the transmission of the haemosporidians.

Project description:The extent to which the latitudinal gradient in species richness may be paralleled by a similar gradient of increasing functional or phylogenetic diversity is a matter of controversy. We evaluated whether taxonomic richness (TR) is informative in terms of ecological diversity (ED, an approximation to functional diversity) and phylogenetic diversity (AvPD) using data on 531 mammal species representing South American old autochthonous (marsupials, xenarthrans), mid-Cenozoic immigrants (hystricognaths, primates) and newcomers (carnivorans, artiodactyls). If closely related species are ecologically more similar than distantly related species, AvPD will be a strong predictor of ED; however, lower ED than predicted from AvPD may be due to species retaining most of their ancestral characters, suggesting niche conservatism. This pattern could occur in tropical rainforests for taxa of tropical affinity (old autochthonous and mid-Cenozoic immigrants) and in open and arid habitats for newcomers. In contrast, higher ED than expected from AvPD could occur, possibly in association with niche evolution, in arid and open habitats for taxa of tropical affinity and in forested habitats for newcomers. We found that TR was a poor predictor of ED and AvPD. After controlling for TR, there was considerable variability in the extent to which AvPD accounted for ED. Taxa of tropical affinity did not support the prediction of ED deficit within tropical rainforests, rather, they showed a mosaic of regions with an excess of ED interspersed with zones of ED deficit within the tropics; newcomers showed ED deficit in arid and open regions. Some taxa of tropical affinity showed excess of ED in tropical desert areas (hystricognaths) or temperate semideserts (xenarthrans); newcomers showed excess of ED at cold-temperate latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. This result suggests that extreme climatic conditions at both temperate and tropical latitudes may have promoted niche evolution in mammals.

Project description:Genetic diversity defines the evolutionary potential of a species, yet mounting evidence suggests that epigenetic diversity could also contribute to adaptation. Elucidating the complex interplay between genetic and epigenetic variation in wild populations remains a challenge for evolutionary biologists, and the intriguing possibility that epigenetic diversity could compensate for the loss of genetic diversity is one aspect that remains basically unexplored in wild plants. This hypothesis is addressed in this paper by comparing the extent and patterns of genetic and epigenetic diversity of phylogenetically closely related but ecologically disparate species. Seven pairs of congeneric species from Cazorla mountains in south-eastern Spain were studied, each pair consisting of one endemic, restricted-range species associated to stressful environments, and one widespread species occupying more favourable habitats. The prediction was tested that endemic species should have lower genetic diversity due to population fragmentation, and higher epigenetic diversity induced by environmental stress, than their widespread congeners. Genetic (DNA sequence variants) and epigenetic (DNA cytosine methylation variants) diversities and their possible co-variation were assessed in three populations of each focal species using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and methylation-sensitive AFLP (MSAP). All species and populations exhibited moderate to high levels of genetic polymorphism irrespective of their ecological characteristics. Epigenetic diversity was greater than genetic diversity in all cases. Only in endemic species were the two variables positively related, but the difference between epigenetic and genetic diversity was greater at populations with low genetic polymorphism. Results revealed that the relationship between genetic and epigenetic diversity can be more complex than envisaged by the simple hypothesis addressed in this study, and highlight the need of additional research on the actual role of epigenetic variation as a source of phenotypic diversity before a realistic understanding of the evolutionary relevance of epigenetic phenomena in plant adaptation can be achieved.

Project description:BackgroundDuring the last 100 years, rapid advances of trees towards higher elevations and latitudes have been recorded for various regions worldwide, including the Ural Mountains. Climate warming and tree cover increases can lead to significant changes in the high-mountain vegetation. Direct observations on the vegetation of high-mountain regions provide evidence for an increase in the species diversity of plants at high elevations and changes in the composition of the alpine communities. This study investigated the diversity and distribution of vascular plants within the present-day treeline ecotone in Mount Iremel, the Southern Urals.New informationThe dataset (Trubina and Nesterkov 2021, available from the GBIF network at https://www.gbif.org/dataset/284f1484-10b7-4ef5-87b7-9de1159e6b42) presents the results of an assessment of species richness and frequency of vascular plants at the different elevation levels (from 1203 to 1348 m a.s.l.) and different biotopes (birch-spruce shrub forest, birch-spruce sparse forest and spruce forest with fragments of meadow plant communities) within the treeline ecotone in Mount Iremel, Southern Urals. Observations were carried out at 700 sampling plots with two estimation methods: small-size plot (0.5 × 0.5 m) sampling (672 plots in total) and large-size plot (10 × 10 m) sampling (28 plots). The dataset includes 700 sampling events (= sampling plots), corresponding to 5585 occurrences (vascular plants, mainly identified to species) observed during July 2003. Only occurrences containing plant taxa (occurrenceStatus = present) have been provided. The dataset includes information about distribution and frequency of the Ural endemic species (Anemone narcissiflora subsp. biarmiensis (Juz.) Jalas, Calamagrostis uralensis Litv., Cerastium krylovii Schischk. & Gorczak., Festuca igoschiniae Tzvel., Hieracium iremelense (Elfstr.) Üksip, Lagotis uralensis Schischk, Pleurospermum uralense Hoffm.) and the Pleistocene relict species (Alopecurus magellanicus Lam., Bistorta vivipara (L.) Delarbre, Cerastium pauciflorum Stev. ex. Ser., Pedicularis oederi Vahl, Saussurea controversa DC., Swertia perennis L.). The dataset also provides information that can be useful for estimating biodiversity and plant communities composition within the treeline ecotone at a specified time period and contributes to the study of biodiversity conservation in the Ural Region.

Dataset Information

Treeline ecotones shape the distribution of avian species richness and functional diversity in south temperate mountains.

Publications

Treeline ecotones shape the distribution of avian species richness and functional diversity in south temperate mountains.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure