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Mokotjomela TM, Vukeya LR, Pamla L, Scott Z. The critical role of coastal protected areas in buffering impacts of extreme climatic conditions on bird diversity and their ecosystem services' provisioning in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e10452. [PMID: 37869441 PMCID: PMC10587736 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10452] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2022] [Revised: 07/28/2023] [Accepted: 08/16/2023] [Indexed: 10/24/2023] Open
Abstract
In this study, we documented the diversity of bird species in the Eastern Cape coastal nature reserves (i.e., Hluleka, Dwesa, Silaka and Mkhambati nature reserves), and determined the potential role of each bird species in habitat maintenance using two functional traits (i.e., body mass and feeding mode) as the function's proxy. We applied the timed species count approach during bird observations, coupled with drive-by surveys to maximise spatial coverage of each nature reserve over four years. To evaluate functional diversity, bird species were classified based on functional traits such as the adult body, and their potential ecological role derived from their feeding mode and habitat associations. Over 864 h, we accumulated 818 bird records containing 178 different bird species that were classified into 58 families with 32 species occurring in all nature reserves. Shannon-Wiener Diversity Indices showed very high overall species diversity across the nature reserves (H > 3.5) with no differences detected across sites. Although no significant correlations between vegetation changes measured through Normalised Difference vegetation Index (NDVI) in each nature reserve and the number of bird records, forest bird species were dominant (42.1%; N = 178) throughout years of observation and diversity remained high (H > 3.5). Bird species abundance only increased significantly across all nature reserves during 2018-2019. All four nature reserves had a similar distribution of bird functional traits with both high functional richness (FRic = 1), and divergence (FDiv = 0.8) and moderate evenness (FEve = 0.4). Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) demonstrated a positive correlation between bird sizes and functions with large birds mainly associated with predators and carrion. Small birds and medium birds had a similar composition of species in terms of functionality being seed dispersers across the nature reserves. A significant effect that insectivores and carrions displayed in MCA plots, suggest the availability of indirect pollination services. Despite extreme drought conditions across the country in 2019, NDVI levels remained largely consistent over time in these four reserves; and thus, they offer important refuge for birds during extreme climatic conditions such as drought.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thabiso Michael Mokotjomela
- South Africa National Biodiversity InstituteFree State National Botanical GardenBloemfonteinSouth Africa
- School of Life SciencesUniversity of KwaZulu‐NatalPietermaritzburgSouth Africa
| | | | - Lwandiso Pamla
- Scientific Services UnitEastern Cape Parks and Tourism AgencyEast LondonSouth Africa
| | - Zimbini Scott
- South Africa National Biodiversity InstituteFree State National Botanical GardenBloemfonteinSouth Africa
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El-Mansi AA, Al-Kahtani MA, Alshahrani H, Ibrahim EH, Al-Doaiss A, Abd-Elhafeez HH, Soliman SA, Taha R, ElBealy E. Histo-morphological Characterization of the Tongue and Oropharyngeal Cavity of the Shining Sunbird (Cinnyris habessinicus). MICROSCOPY AND MICROANALYSIS : THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF MICROSCOPY SOCIETY OF AMERICA, MICROBEAM ANALYSIS SOCIETY, MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 2023; 29:1791-1808. [PMID: 37738364 DOI: 10.1093/micmic/ozad096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2022] [Revised: 05/07/2023] [Accepted: 08/14/2023] [Indexed: 09/24/2023]
Abstract
Sunbirds, as specialized nectarivores, have developed multiple lingual and oropharyngeal peculiarities imposed by this dietary specialization that particularly extract floral nectar. We have described the functional morphology of the tongues and palates of the shining sunbird, Cinnyris habessinicus, using gross anatomical, histological, and scanning electron microscopic methods. The tongue was bifurcated with fringed lamella and extended posteriorly, forming a broad trough at the lingual body and terminating in two fleshy, alae linguae. The lingual apex and body are nonpapillate and nonglandular, and its root had a muscular pad followed by a conspicuous laryngeal mound bordered by three prominent rows of conical papillae. The lingual root had clusters of mucoid glands with rich acidic mucins, and the laryngeal region had complex papillary distribution at the back margins. Both the lingual body and root had well-developed skeletal elements, musculature, and connective tissues. Furthermore, the palate was membranous and made up of four main ridges with a central choanal slit guarded by choanal papillae. Overall, the presented results showed structural and anatomical features that are the results of the nectarivory dietary niche.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ahmed A El-Mansi
- Biology Department, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia
| | - Mohamed A Al-Kahtani
- Biology Department, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia
| | - Hend Alshahrani
- Biology Department, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia
| | - Esam H Ibrahim
- Biology Department, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia
| | - Amin Al-Doaiss
- Biology Department, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia
| | - Hanan H Abd-Elhafeez
- Cell and tissues Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut 71526, Egypt
| | - Soha A Soliman
- Histology Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, South Valley University, Qena 83523, Egypt
| | - Ramadan Taha
- Biology Department, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia
| | - Eman ElBealy
- Biology Department, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia
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Lu W, Shao S, Zu L, Luo X, Duan Y. Morphological diversity and altitudinal differentiation of Aethopyga species. Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e10473. [PMID: 37664511 PMCID: PMC10468329 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10473] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2023] [Revised: 08/14/2023] [Accepted: 08/18/2023] [Indexed: 09/05/2023] Open
Abstract
The morphological characteristics of birds are an important tool for studying their adaptation and evolution. The morphological evolution of a clade is not only constrained by the phylogenetic relationship, but also influenced by ecological factors and interspecific competition. Aethopyga is a group of small nectar-eating birds with obvious sexual dimorphism. They have slender and decurved beaks, which reflect their unique diet and foraging mode. Traditional and geometric morphometrics were combined to characterize the body morphology and beak shape of six species of Aethopyga distributed in China. We aim to assess the roles of phylogeny, altitude, and species interactions to morphological evolution. The main distinguishing characteristic among these six species were overall body size, the ratio of body weight, culmen and tarsal length to body length, tail length and wing length, and beak shape (slender/straight vs. thick/decurved). Although these dimensions cannot distinguish all species, they can show a clear distribution trend, and there is a significant Mahalanobis distance between each pair of species. There were no significant phylogenetic signals in morphological traits. The results of PGLS analysis show that altitude is significantly correlated with log-transformed tarsus length and beak-shaped PC1 (slender/straight vs thick/decurved dimensions) across the six species analyzed. Mantel test shows that the distance matrix of beak morphological characteristics showed a significant correlation with the altitudinal distance matrix. The results indicated no significant phylogenetic signal in the morphological characteristics of six species. In terms of beak shape, species with greater overlap in elevation distribution have more similar morphological characteristics, that is, less morphological differentiation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenzhu Lu
- Key Laboratory for Conserving Wildlife with Small Populations in YunnanSouthwest Forestry UniversityKunmingChina
- Faculty of Biodiversity ConservationSouthwest Forestry UniversityKunmingChina
| | - Shimiao Shao
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated HospitalZhejiang University School of MedicineHangzhouChina
| | - Lingling Zu
- Key Laboratory for Conserving Wildlife with Small Populations in YunnanSouthwest Forestry UniversityKunmingChina
- Faculty of Biodiversity ConservationSouthwest Forestry UniversityKunmingChina
| | - Xu Luo
- Key Laboratory for Conserving Wildlife with Small Populations in YunnanSouthwest Forestry UniversityKunmingChina
- Faculty of Biodiversity ConservationSouthwest Forestry UniversityKunmingChina
- Key Laboratory for Forest Resources Conservation and Utilization in the Southwest Mountains of China, Ministry of EducationSouthwest Forestry UniversityKunmingChina
| | - Yubao Duan
- Key Laboratory for Conserving Wildlife with Small Populations in YunnanSouthwest Forestry UniversityKunmingChina
- Faculty of Biodiversity ConservationSouthwest Forestry UniversityKunmingChina
- Key Laboratory of Forest Disaster Warning and Control in Universities of Yunnan ProvinceSouthwest Forestry UniversityKunmingChina
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