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Bonfim FCG, Galetti M, Benchimol M, Morante-Filho JC, Magioli M, Cazetta E. Land-use homogenization reduces the occurrence and diversity of frugivorous birds in a tropical biodiversity hotspot. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2024; 34:e2980. [PMID: 38725332 DOI: 10.1002/eap.2980] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2023] [Revised: 01/04/2024] [Accepted: 03/08/2024] [Indexed: 06/04/2024]
Abstract
Understanding how human-modified landscapes maintain biodiversity and provide ecosystem services is crucial for establishing conservation practices. Given that responses to land-use are species-specific, it is crucial to understand how land-use changes may shape patterns of species diversity and persistence in human-modified landscapes. Here, we used a comprehensive data set on bird distribution from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest to understand how species richness and individual occurrences of frugivorous bird species responded to land-use spatial predictors and, subsequently, assess how ecological traits and phylogeny modulated these responses. Using Bayesian hierarchical modeling, we reveal that the richness of frugivorous birds was positively associated with the amount of native forest and negatively with both agriculture and pasture amount at the landscape scale. Conversely, the effect of these predictors on species occurrence and ecological traits was highly variable and presented a weak phylogenetic signal. Furthermore, land-use homogenization (i.e., the conversion of forest to pasture or agriculture) led to pervasive consequences for forest-dependent bird species, whereas several generalist species thrived in deforested areas, replacing those sensitive to habitat disturbances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fernando César Gonçalves Bonfim
- Postgraduate Program in Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation, Applied Ecology and Conservation Lab, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Brazil
| | - Mauro Galetti
- Instituto de Biociências, Departamento de Biodiversidade, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Rio Claro, Brazil
| | - Maíra Benchimol
- Postgraduate Program in Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation, Applied Ecology and Conservation Lab, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Brazil
| | - José Carlos Morante-Filho
- Postgraduate Program in Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation, Applied Ecology and Conservation Lab, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Brazil
| | - Marcelo Magioli
- Instituto Pró-Carnívoros, Atibaia, Brazil
- Centro Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservação de Mamíferos Carnívoros (CENAP), Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio), Atibaia, Brazil
- Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação (LAEC), Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP), Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Eliana Cazetta
- Postgraduate Program in Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation, Applied Ecology and Conservation Lab, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Brazil
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Lauck KS, Ke A, Olimpi EM, Paredes D, Hood K, Phillips T, Anderegg WRL, Karp DS. Agriculture and hot temperatures interactively erode the nest success of habitat generalist birds across the United States. Science 2023; 382:290-294. [PMID: 37856579 DOI: 10.1126/science.add2915] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2022] [Accepted: 08/11/2023] [Indexed: 10/21/2023]
Abstract
Habitat conversion and climate change are fundamental drivers of biodiversity loss worldwide but are often analyzed in isolation. We used a continental-scale, decades-long database of more than 150,000 bird nesting attempts to explore how extreme heat affects avian reproduction in forests, grasslands, and agricultural and developed areas across the US. We found that in forests, extreme heat increased nest success, but birds nesting in agricultural settings were much less likely to successfully fledge young when temperatures reached anomalously high levels. Species that build exposed cup nests and species of higher conservation concern were particularly vulnerable to maximum temperature anomalies in agricultural settings. Finally, future projections suggested that ongoing climate change may exacerbate the negative effects of habitat conversion on avian nesting success, thereby compromising conservation efforts in human-dominated landscapes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine S Lauck
- Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Alison Ke
- Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Elissa M Olimpi
- Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
- Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
| | - Daniel Paredes
- Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
- Environmental Analysis Group, Department of Plant Biology, Ecology and Earth Science, University of Extremadura, Extremadura, Spain
| | - Kees Hood
- Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Thomas Phillips
- Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - William R L Anderegg
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
- Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Daniel S Karp
- Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
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3
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Monroe AP, Heinrichs JA, Whipple AL, O'Donnell MS, Edmunds DR, Aldridge CL. Spatial scale selection for informing species conservation in a changing landscape. Ecosphere 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.4320] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Adrian P. Monroe
- U.S. Geological Survey Fort Collins Science Center Fort Collins Colorado USA
| | - Julie A. Heinrichs
- Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory Colorado State University, in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center Fort Collins Colorado USA
| | - Ashley L. Whipple
- U.S. Geological Survey Fort Collins Science Center Fort Collins Colorado USA
| | | | - David R. Edmunds
- U.S. Geological Survey Fort Collins Science Center Fort Collins Colorado USA
| | - Cameron L. Aldridge
- U.S. Geological Survey Fort Collins Science Center Fort Collins Colorado USA
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4
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Olimpi EM, Daly H, Garcia K, Glynn VM, Gonthier DJ, Kremen C, M'Gonigle LK, Karp DS. Interactive effects of multiscale diversification practices on farmland bird stress. CONSERVATION BIOLOGY : THE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 2022; 36:e13902. [PMID: 35212020 DOI: 10.1111/cobi.13902] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2021] [Revised: 12/21/2021] [Accepted: 02/09/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Farmland diversification practices (i.e., methods used to produce food sustainably by enhancing biodiversity in cropping systems) are sometimes considered beneficial to both agriculture and biodiversity, but most studies of these practices rely on species richness, diversity, or abundance as a proxy for habitat quality. Biodiversity assessments may miss early clues that populations are imperiled when species presence does not imply persistence. Physiological stress indicators may help identify low-quality habitats before population declines occur. We explored how avian stress indicators respond to on-farm management practices and surrounding seminatural area (1-km radius) across 21 California strawberry farms. We examined whether commonly used biodiversity metrics correlate with stress responses in wild birds. We used ∼1000 blood and feather samples and body mass and wing chord measurements, mostly from passerines, to test the effects of diversification practices on four physiological stress indicators: heterophil to lymphocyte ratios (H:L), body condition, hematocrit values, and feather growth rates of individual birds. We then tested the relationship between physiological stress indicators and species richness, abundance, occurrence, and diversity derived from 285 bird point count surveys. After accounting for other biological drivers, landscape context mediated the effect of local farm management on H:L and body condition. Local diversification practices were associated with reduced individual stress in intensive agricultural landscapes but increased it in landscapes surrounded by relatively more seminatural area. Feathers grew more slowly in landscapes dominated by strawberry production, suggesting that nutritional condition was lower here than in landscapes with more crop types and seminatural areas. We found scant evidence that species richness, abundance, occurrence, or diversity metrics were correlated with the individual's physiological stress, suggesting that reliance on these metrics may obscure the impacts of management on species persistence. Our findings underscore the importance of considering landscape context when designing local management strategies to promote wildlife conservation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elissa M Olimpi
- Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, California, USA
| | - Hallie Daly
- Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, California, USA
| | - Karina Garcia
- Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA
| | - Victoria M Glynn
- Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - David J Gonthier
- Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA
| | - Claire Kremen
- Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
- Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Center, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Leithen K M'Gonigle
- Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Daniel S Karp
- Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, California, USA
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Mychajliw AM, Almonte JN, Martinez PA, Hadly EA. Stable isotopes reveal seasonal dietary responses to agroforestry in a venomous mammal, the Hispaniolan solenodon (
Solenodon paradoxus
). Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e8761. [PMID: 35356572 PMCID: PMC8948124 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.8761] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2021] [Revised: 03/07/2022] [Accepted: 03/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Alexis M. Mychajliw
- Departments of Biology and Environmental Studies Middlebury College Middlebury Vermont USA
- Department of Biology Stanford University Stanford California USA
| | - Juan N. Almonte
- Museo Nacional de Historia Natural “Prof. Eugenio de Jesús Marcano” Santo DomingoDominican Republic
| | - Pedro A. Martinez
- Escuela de Biología Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo Santo DomingoDominican Republic
| | - Elizabeth A. Hadly
- Department of Biology Stanford University Stanford California USA
- Woods Institute of the Environment Stanford University Stanford CaliforniaUSA
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Mertes K, Jarzyna MA, Jetz W. Hierarchical multi-grain models improve descriptions of species' environmental associations, distribution, and abundance. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2020; 30:e02117. [PMID: 32154624 DOI: 10.1002/eap.2117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2019] [Revised: 12/17/2019] [Accepted: 01/06/2020] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
The characterization of species' environmental niches and spatial distribution predictions based on them are now central to much of ecology and conservation, but implicitly requires decisions about the appropriate spatial scale (i.e., grain) of analysis. Ecological theory and empirical evidence suggest that range-resident species respond to their environment at two characteristic, hierarchical spatial grains: (1) response grain, the (relatively fine) grain at which an individual uses environmental resources, and (2) occupancy grain, the (relatively coarse) grain equivalent to a typical home range. We use a multi-grain (MG) occupancy model, aided by fine-grain remotely sensed imagery, to simultaneously estimate species-environment associations at both grains, conduct grain optimization to measure response grain, and apply this analysis framework to an example species: a medium-sized bird (Tockus deckeni) in a heterogeneous East African landscape. Based on home range analysis of movement data, we calculate an occupancy grain of 1 km for T. deckeni. Using a grain optimization procedure across 32 grains from 10 to 500 m, we identify 60 m as the most strongly supported response grain for a suite of environmental variables, slightly coarser than opportunistic behavioral observations would have suggested. Validation confirms that the accuracy of the optimized MG occupancy model substantially exceeds that of equivalent single-grain (SG) occupancy models. We further use a simulation approach to assess the potential impacts of accounting for the multi-scale structure of species' environmental requirements on estimates of population size. We find that the more strongly supported MG approach consistently predicts a minimum population size in the study landscape that is much lower than that provided by the SG model. This suggests that SG approaches commonly used in conservation applications could lead to overly optimistic abundance and population estimates, and that the MG approach may be more appropriate for supporting species conservation goals. More generally, we conclude that multi-grain approaches of the sort presented, and increasingly enabled by growing high-resolution remotely sensed data, hold great promise for offering a more mechanistic framework for assessing the appropriate grain(s) for population monitoring and management and enable more reliable estimates of abundances and species' distributions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine Mertes
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 06511, USA
- Conservation Ecology Center, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, 1500 Remount Road, Front Royal, Virginia, 22630, USA
| | - Marta A Jarzyna
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 06511, USA
- Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, 43210, USA
| | - Walter Jetz
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 06511, USA
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Buckhurst Road, SL5 7PY, Ascot, Berks, United Kingdom
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7
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Williams JJ, Newbold T. Local climatic changes affect biodiversity responses to land use: A review. DIVERS DISTRIB 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/ddi.12999] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Jessica J. Williams
- Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research University College London London UK
| | - Tim Newbold
- Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research University College London London UK
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