Ecology of mixed-species flocks of birds across gradients in the Neotropics

Lia Nahomi Kajiki,Giselle Mangini,María Elisa Fanjul,Flavia Montaño-Centellas,Gabriel J Colorado Z

doi:10.1007/bf03544419

Abstract

Mixed-species flocks of birds have been studied for more than a century, but investigation efforts are historically unbalanced towards certain types of habitats, such as woodlands and lowland forests. Here we provide a first glance of bird flocks’ patterns across different gradients in recent studies conducted within the Neotropics. We summarize a symposium where a series of independent studies that approached the topic, some of them making use of techniques that were seldom applied in previous decades in Neotropical systems. We discuss bird flocks’ patterns across a latitudinal gradient, social network patterns in bird flocks’ across elevational gradients in local and regional scale, and, finally, patterns of flocking response to different levels of human disturbance. Altogether, these studies offer a larger and diverse panorama of possible patterns of response and diversity of mixed-species flocks of birds in the Neotropical region, and provide a rich ground where future studies with bird flocks in the Neotropics may rely on.

Highlights

More than a century ago, every naturalist and ornithologist who penetrated the tropical humid forests would be mesmerized by the “mixed parties of birds”, to judge from the fascinating description of Bates in 1863 (p. 334–335): “One may pass several days without seeing many birds; but and the surrounding bushes and trees appear suddenly to swarm with them
We summarize a symposium where a series of independent studies that approached the topic, some of them making use of techniques that were seldom applied in previous decades in Neotropical systems
The presentations in this symposium demonstrate how mixed-species flocks respond to various environmental gradients in different scales

Summary

Introduction

More than a century ago, every naturalist and ornithologist who penetrated the tropical humid forests would be mesmerized by the “mixed parties of birds”, to judge from the fascinating description of Bates in 1863 (p. 334–335): “One may pass several days without seeing many birds; but and the surrounding bushes and trees appear suddenly to swarm with them. Mixed-species flocks of birds in the Neotropics studies point to climate regimes as the main drivers of latitudinal gradients of bird diversity, which affect various aspects of the ecology of the species directly or indirectly, including diets, use of available microhabitats and behavior (Ruggiero & Lawton 1998, Ruggiero 2001, Salisbury et al 2012).

Results

Conclusion