Explaining the species richness of birds along a complete rainforest elevational gradient in the tropics Katerina Sam 1,2, Bonny Koane 3, Samuel Jeppy 3, Jérôme Munzinger 4, Legi Sam 5,6, Vojtech Novotny 1,2 1 Biology Centre AS CR, v. v. i., Institute of Entomology, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic (katerina.sam.cz@gmail.com); 2 University of South Bohemia, Faculty of Science, Czech Republic; 3 The New Guinea Binatang Research Center, Madang, Papua New Guinea; 4 Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR AMAP, Montpellier, France; 5 Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia; 6 Griffith School of Environment, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia
INTRODUCTION - Explaining the species richness of birds along a complete rainforest elevational gradient in the tropics distribution of birds along a complete elevational forest gradient in tropics describe species richness patterns of individual feeding guilds explore how the species richness patterns could be explained
STUDY SITES - Explaining the species richness of birds along a complete rainforest elevational gradient in the tropics Study sites Elevational gradient of Mt.Wilhelm (4509 m) 8 + 3 study sites 3700 3200 2700 2200 1200 1700 700 1200 200 1700
METHODS - Explaining the species richness of birds along a complete rainforest elevational gradient in the tropics Method - Birds (2010 2011 2012) Point Count 3+6+5 = 14 days 5:45 10:30 16 points 150 m apart 1 point = 0.78 ha 15 minutes at point Mist - Netting 3+5+3 = 11 days 200m of nets 12 hours/day 5:30 17:30 Random Walks - 2 hours/day Random walking around the area 14:00 17:30 and 6:00 8:00 20 hours at elevation area = 70 ha
STUDY SITES - Explaining the species richness of birds along a complete rainforest elevational gradient in the tropics Study area at 3700m Camp
RESULTS - Explaining the species richness of birds along a complete rainforest elevational gradient in the tropics Results Species richness Total: 33,639 individuals 238 species PC: 25,240 individuals 236 species MN: 1,354 individuals 105 species RW: 7,045 individuals 200 species Species list and new records for the region are described in: New avian records along the elevational gradient of Mt. Wilhelm, Papua New Guinea, K.Sam, B. Koane, Bull. BOC 2014
RESULTS - Explaining the species richness of birds along a complete rainforest elevational gradient in the tropics Results Species richness Total: 33,639 individuals 238 species PC: 25,240 individuals 236 species MN: 1,354 individuals 105 species RW: 7,045 individuals 200 species Species list and new records for the region are described in: New avian records along the elevational gradient of Mt. Wilhelm, Papua New Guinea, K.Sam, B. Koane, Bull. BOC 2014
RESULTS - Explaining the species richness of birds along a complete rainforest elevational gradient in the tropics Results Species richness Terborgh, J. 1977. Bird species diversity on an Andean elevational gradient. Ecology 58: 1007 1019. Remsen, J. J. 1985. Community organization and ecology of birds of high elevation humid forest of the Bolivian Andes. Ornithological Monographs, 36: 733-756.
METHODS - Explaining the species richness of birds along a complete rainforest elevational gradient in the tropics Method - Explanatory variables Climatic variables (temperature & humidity) Habitat variables (points + 3 botanical plots 20 x 20 m) Available area (mainland of New Guinea, belts +/- 100 m) Regional species pool Mid domain effect (Range Model)
Mean temperature METHODS - Explaining the species richness of birds along a complete rainforest elevational gradient in the tropics Number of species Mean humidity Climatic variables 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 y = -0.0048x + 25.698 R² = 0.9934 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 Elevation (m) 102 100 98 96 94 92 90 88 86 84 82 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 Elevation (m) Available area Regional species pool 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 Local Regional
Habitat Pictures show average forest interior and canopy openness
RESULTS - Explaining the species richness of birds along a complete rainforest elevational gradient in the tropics
RESULTS - Explaining the species richness of birds along a complete rainforest elevational gradient in the tropics Boundary detection analysis results (wombling method in BoundarySeer 1.0) transition are shown in pink. Study sites in red Habitat structure Plants Darker pink colour = higher boundary element probability All birds Insectivores Herbivores Omnivores
RESULTS - Explaining the species richness of birds along a complete rainforest elevational gradient in the tropics
CONCLUSIONS - Explaining the species richness of birds along a complete rainforest elevational gradient in the tropics Conclusions Species richness correlated with habitat complexity and contemporary climate Different patterns for birds with feeding specialization Insectivorous birds very sensitive to habitat complexity Hypothesis: Insectivorous birds likely to be influenced by habitat characteristics indirectly via arthropods and frugivorous birds could be dependent on richness/abundance of ficus trees
Acknowledgement Vojtech Novotny, David Storch Carsten Rahbek Bonny Koane, Samuel Jeppy Kenneth Molem, Salape Tulai, Jérôme Munzinger Legi Sam The New Guinea Binatang Research staff Village assistants` Grant Agency of University of South Bohemia 136/2010/P, 146/2012/P Czech Science Foundation Grant 206/08/H044, 04-156/2013/P, 04-048/2012/P The Christensen Fund Idea Wild This presentation was created within the project Center of excellence for global study of biodiversity and function of forest ecosystems, reg. no. CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0064, which is co-financed by the European Social Fund and the state budget of the Czech Republic.