Phylogenetic Diversity Of Birds Research Articles

Fruit trees and herbaceous plants increase functional and phylogenetic diversity of birds in smallholder rubber plantations

Rubber plantations are widespread in mainland South-east Asia. Intensive monocultural rubber cultivation practices predominate, which negatively impact biodiversity. Some plantations are managed as high-yielding agroforests, where the integration of fruit trees and other plant species marginally enhances crop diversity relative to monocultures, providing benefits for species richness of some taxa without compromising yields. A key question is whether these high-yielding agroforestry systems also support enhanced functional and phylogenetic diversity relative to monoculture. Focusing on birds in rubber monocultures and agroforests in two provinces of Southern Thailand, we study plantation habitat structure and wider landscape characteristics to identify effects on functional and phylogenetic diversity metrics. Functional diversity, phylogenetic diversity and evolutionary distinctiveness of birds were comparable between rubber monocultures and intensive agroforests. The density of fruit stems and taller herbaceous plants within agroforests positively influenced functional and phylogenetic diversity, and evolutionary distinctiveness. Functional and phylogenetic diversity was higher in landscapes with a greater proportion of fruit orchards, but was lower in landscapes with a greater proportion of degraded natural forest patches. Our study suggests that the integration of fruit trees and maintaining taller herbaceous plants within rubber plantations could help support bird diversity at evolutionary and functional levels. Small patches of degraded forest in areas dominated by agriculture may need time to generate positive spillover effects on the functional and phylogenetic diversity of birds within rubber plantations. Better management of existing rubber plantations could sustain higher diversity, while offering food security and alternative revenue streams.

From town to town: Predicting the taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of birds using NDVI

Biodiversity mapping in urban areas is imperative for their conservation. Remote sensors produce environmental information, such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), an indicator of vegetation cover in urban areas. NDVI can be used to predict the taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic bird diversity in urban areas. Moreover, a predictive model constructed in one city can be used to predict the bird diversity in other cities. The objectives of this study were: 1) to construct and evaluate predictive models between NDVI and taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of birds in Mar del Plata city, Argentina; and 2) to extrapolate these models to two other cities in the region: Balcarce and Miramar. Generalized additive models were applied to relate bird diversity variations to NDVI. In Mar del Plata, the taxonomic and functional diversity increased with increasing NDVI values, and the predictive models explained 64–81% of the taxonomic and functional diversity variation. The models correctly predicted taxonomic and functional diversity values in additional transects not included in the models, although they had a low predictive power of phylogenetic diversity. The models constructed in Mar del Plata adequately predicted the spatial variation of species diversity (Shannon index) in Balcarce and Miramar, the spatial variation of species richness in Balcarce, and the variation of functional diversity in Miramar. Our analysis revealed that a predictive model of bird diversity based on NDVI patterns created in one city can also depict the expected species diversity in other cities, being a time-saving and cost-effective method to create a tool for urban biodiversity conservation.

Biodiversity within the city: Effects of land sharing and land sparing urban development on avian diversity

Urbanization, one of the most extreme human-induced environmental changes, is negatively affecting biodiversity worldwide, strongly suggesting that we should reconcile urban development with conservation. Urbanization can follow two extreme types of development within a continuum: land sharing (buildings mixed with dispersed green space) or land sparing (buildings interspersed with green patches that concentrate biodiversity-supporting vegetation). Recent local-scale studies indicate that biodiversity is typically favored by land sparing. We investigated which of these two types of urbanization is associated with a higher taxonomic (i.e. species richness), functional, and phylogenetic diversity of birds. To do so, we collected information on breeding and wintering bird assemblages in 45 land-sharing and 45 land-sparing areas in nine European cities, which provide the first attempt to explore this question using a large geographical scale and temporal replication. We found that land-sharing urban areas were significantly associated with a higher taxonomic and functional diversity of birds during winter, but not during the breeding season (with only a marginally significant effect for functional diversity). We found no association between the type of urban development and phylogenetic diversity. Our findings indicate that not all components of avian diversity are similarly affected by these two means of urban planning and highlight the importance of integrating the temporal perspective into this kind of studies. Our results also offer useful information to the current debate about the trade-off between biodiversity conservation and human well-being in the context of land sharing and sparing urban practices. In addition, we found that certain small-scale urban landscape characteristics (i.e. few impervious surfaces, high water or tree cover) and human practices (i.e. bird feeders or plants with berries) can help maintaining more diverse urban bird assemblages. We provide specific suggestions for both policymakers and citizens that hopefully will help to create more biodiversity-friendly cities in the future.

Using functional and phylogenetic diversity to infer avian community assembly along elevational gradients

AbstractAimWe present the first global analysis of elevational gradients in functional and phylogenetic diversity of birds and test for signals of deterministic processes (i.e., environmental filtering and limiting similarity) in community assembly. Further, we examine for latitudinal effects in the strength of these processes.LocationForty‐six elevational gradients across the globe.Time periodCurrent (between 1924 and 2016).Major taxaBirds.MethodsWe systematically selected, compiled and analysed published data on bird diversity along elevational gradients. For each gradient, we calculated functional and phylogenetic diversity across elevations and described the main patterns for each diversity metric. Then, we calculated standardized effect sizes (SES) of each metric and used these SES values to (a) test the signals of deterministic processes shaping assemblages across elevations and (b) to compare changes in within‐mountain diversity, among mountains located at different latitudes.ResultsBirds displayed eight different patterns of functional and phylogenetic diversity across elevations, but no global pattern of increase or decrease was found. There is, however, a consistent global pattern of phylogenetic clustering, with mountain species being more closely related to each other at any given elevation. Latitude had a significant effect on within‐mountain changes in functional and phylogenetic diversity across elevations, with more negative slopes (stronger decline in diversity metrics with increasing elevation) in tropical mountains.Main conclusionsOur findings challenge the idea that the decline of functional and phylogenetic diversity with elevation is a general pattern, emphasizing the uniqueness of each mountain system. In spite of this great variability, we found a latitudinal effect in the patterns of within‐mountain functional and phylogenetic dispersion of birds after controlling for effects of species richness. Environmental filtering, thus, may act differently in tropical and temperate mountains, and calls for more comparative studies on the mechanisms driving community assembly at different latitudes.

Large conservation gains possible for global biodiversity facets.

Different facets of biodiversity other than species numbers are increasingly appreciated as critical for maintaining the function of ecosystems and their services to humans. While new international policy and assessment processes such as the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) recognize the importance of an increasingly global, quantitative and comprehensive approach to biodiversity protection, most insights are still focused on a single facet of biodiversity-species. Here we broaden the focus and provide an evaluation of how much of the world's species, functional and phylogenetic diversity of birds and mammals is currently protected and the scope for improvement. We show that the large existing gaps in the coverage for each facet of diversity could be remedied by a slight expansion of protected areas: an additional 5% of the land has the potential to more than triple the protected range of species or phylogenetic or functional units. Further, the same areas are often priorities for multiple diversity facets and for both taxa. However, we find that the choice of conservation strategy has a fundamental effect on outcomes. It is more difficult (that is, requires more land) to maximize basic representation of the global biodiversity pool than to maximize local diversity. Overall, species and phylogenetic priorities are more similar to each other than they are to functional priorities, and priorities for the different bird biodiversity facets are more similar than those of mammals. Our work shows that large gains in biodiversity protection are possible, while also highlighting the need to explicitly link desired conservation objectives and biodiversity metrics. We provide a framework and quantitative tools to advance these goals for multi-faceted biodiversity conservation.

Concave trade-off curves between crop production and taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of birds

In a context of land scarcity, food production and biodiversity conservation objectives compete for land. The shape of the relationship between these two objectives may be helpful to inform decision-making. However, the metrics used to evaluate this relationship have so far been restricted to species abundances and species richness, which give no information on possible consequences on ecosystem functioning or on evolution history. Indeed, the shapes of the relationship between food production and other diversity facets, such as functional diversity and phylogenetic diversity, have rarely been studied. We considered 3 diversity facets: taxonomic diversity, functional diversity and phylogenetic diversity. For each facet, several biodiversity metrics have been proposed. The objective of this work was to investigate whether the shape of the trade-off curve between food production and biodiversity metrics depended on the considered facet of biodiversity. Using data from the national agricultural statistics, we computed edible energy from crops and from livestock on a nation-wide gradient covering French agroecosystems. Using bird observation data provided by the French Breeding Bird Survey (FBBS), we computed 9 (3 for each facet) biodiversity metrics in 516 different sites of the FBBS. The trade-off curves were then computed using additive mixed models. All metrics decreased along a crop production gradient. For functional and taxonomic diversity metrics, the slope was steeper at high levels of production, suggesting that actions aiming at increasing local taxonomic or functional diversity may be more efficient in regions with highest crop production, if restoration follows the same trajectory as biodiversity loss. The decrease was steeper for functional diversity than for taxonomic diversity, suggesting that agriculture can reduce the functional diversity of birds more than their taxonomic diversity.

Conservation Actions Based on Red Lists Do Not Capture the Functional and Phylogenetic Diversity of Birds in Brazil

Red Lists of threatened species play a critical role in conservation science and practice. However, policy-making based on Red Lists ignores ecological and evolutionary consequences of losing biodiversity because these lists focus on species alone. To decide if relying on Red Lists alone can help to conserve communities’ functional (FD) and phylogenetic (PD) diversity, it is useful to evaluate whether Red List categories represent species with diverse ecological traits and evolutionary histories. Additionally, local scale analyses using regional Red Lists should represent more realistic pools of co-occurring species and thereby better capture eventual losses of FD and PD. Here, we used 21 life-history traits and a phylogeny for all Brazilian birds to determine whether species assigned under the IUCN global Red List, the Brazilian national, and regional Red Lists capture more FD and PD than expected by chance. We also built local Red Lists and analysed if they capture more FD and PD at the local scale. Further, we investigated whether individual threat categories have species with greater FD and PD than expected by chance. At any given scale, threat categories did not capture greater FD or PD than expected by chance. Indeed, mostly categories captured equal or less FD or PD than expected by chance. These findings would not have great consequences if Red Lists were not often considered as a major decision support tool for policy-making. Our results challenge the practice of investing conservation resources based only on species Red Lists because, from an ecological and evolutionary point of view, this would be the same as protecting similar or random sets of species. Thus, new prioritization methods, such as the EDGE of Existence initiative, should be developed and applied to conserve species’ ecological traits and evolutionary histories at different spatial scales.