Anthropogenic drivers of avian community turnover from local to regional scales

Abstract Former agricultural lands converted to pine (Pinus spp.) plantations in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) have potential to provide early successional (ES) habitat for many regionally declining pine/grassland and shrub-successional bird species if actively managed with appropriate disturbance regimes. One such regime is use of the selective herbicide Imazapyr (Arsenal Applicators Concentrate) and prescribed burning, which is permitted on CRP lands and cost share payments are available. This study quantified combined effects of Imazapyr and prescribed fire on the breeding season avian community characteristics and pine volume growth in thinned, midrotation afforested loblolly pine (Pinus taedaL.) plantations in Mississippi. Herbicide treatments were applied in fall of 2002 and winter burns were conducted during winter and early spring of 2002–2003. ES bird species richness was significantly greater in the treated plots compared with controls for both 2003 and 2004. Ten individual species exhibited treatment effects. These responses by ES bird species indicate that midrotation CRPplantations can provide needed ES habitat if treated with appropriate disturbance regimes.

Disturbance, species loss and compensation: Wildfire and grazing effects on the avian community and its food supply in the Serengeti Ecosystem, Tanzania

Austral Ecology ◽

10.1111/j.1442-9993.2010.02167.x ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 36 (4) ◽

pp. 403-412 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

A. K. NKWABI ◽

A. R E. SINCLAIR ◽

K. L. METZGER ◽

S. A. R. MDUMA

Keyword(s):

Food Supply ◽

Species Loss ◽

Avian Community ◽

Serengeti Ecosystem ◽

Grazing Effects

Vertical stratification and seasonal changes of the avian community in Mount Cameroon lowland rainforest

African Journal of Ecology ◽

10.1111/aje.12877 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Kryštof Chmel ◽

Solange Mekuate Kamga ◽

Taku Awa ◽

Francis Luma Ewome ◽

Guillermo Uceda‐Gómez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Seasonal Changes ◽

Vertical Stratification ◽

Avian Community ◽

Mount Cameroon ◽

Lowland Rainforest

Composition of ‘fast–slow’ traits drives avian community stability over North America

Functional Ecology ◽

10.1111/1365-2435.13909 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Zhouyuan Li ◽

Heng Zhang ◽

Yanjie Xu ◽

Shaopeng Wang

Keyword(s):

North America ◽

Community Stability ◽

Avian Community

Anthropogenic drivers of soil microbial communities and impacts on soil biological functions in agroecosystems

Global Ecology and Conservation ◽

10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01521 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 27 ◽

pp. e01521

Author(s):

Tony Yang ◽

Newton Lupwayi ◽

St-Arnaud Marc ◽

Kadambot H.M. Siddique ◽

Luke D. Bainard

Keyword(s):

Microbial Communities ◽

Soil Microbial Communities ◽

Biological Functions ◽

Soil Microbial ◽

Anthropogenic Drivers

Ecological drivers of avian community assembly along a tropical elevation gradient

Ecography ◽

10.1111/ecog.05379 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Flavia A. Montaño‐Centellas ◽

Bette A. Loiselle ◽

Morgan W. Tingley

Keyword(s):

Community Assembly ◽

Elevation Gradient ◽

Avian Community

Vegetation ecology with anthropic drivers and consequences

Progress in Physical Geography Earth and Environment ◽

10.1177/0309133321999371 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 030913332199937

Author(s):

George P Malanson ◽

Michelle L Talal ◽

Elizabeth R Pansing ◽

Scott B Franklin

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Invasive Species ◽

Plant Communities ◽

Fire Ecology ◽

Progress Report ◽

Processes Of Change ◽

Community Classification ◽

The Status ◽

Plant Community Classification ◽

Anthropogenic Drivers

Current research on vegetation makes a difference in people’s lives. Plant community classification is a backbone of land management, plant communities are changing in response to anthropogenic drivers, and the processes of change have impacts on ecosystem services. In the following progress report, we summarize the status of classification and recent research on vegetation responses to pollution, especially nitrogen deposition, invasive species, climate change, and land use and direct exploitation. Two areas with human feedbacks are underscored: fire ecology and urban ecology. Prominent questions at the current research frontier are highlighted with attention to new perspectives.

Partitioning tree diversity patterns to prioritize conservation investments

Environmental Conservation ◽

10.1017/s0376892921000060 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

Patrick F McKenzie ◽

Gwenllian D Iacona ◽

Eric R Larson ◽

Paul R Armsworth

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

Predictive Models ◽

Tree Species ◽

Beta Diversity ◽

Distribution Data ◽

Gamma Diversity ◽

Conservation Practice ◽

Alpha And Beta Diversity ◽

Community Turnover ◽

Data Limitations

Summary The available tools and approaches to inform conservation decisions commonly assume detailed distribution data. We examine how well-established ecological concepts about patterns in local richness and community turnover can help overcome data limitations when planning future protected areas. To inform our analyses, we surveyed tree species in protected areas in the southern Appalachian Mountains in the eastern USA. We used the survey data to construct predictive models for alpha and beta diversity based on readily observed biophysical variables and combined them to create a heuristic that could predict among-site richness in trees (gamma diversity). The predictive models suggest that site elevation and latitude in this montane system explain much of the variation in alpha and beta diversity in tree species. We tested how well resulting protected areas would represent species if a conservation planner lacking detailed species inventories for candidate sites were to rely only on our alpha, beta and gamma diversity predictions. Our approach selected sites that, when aggregated, covered a large proportion of the overall species pool. The combined gamma diversity models performed even better when we also accounted for the cost of protecting sites. Our results demonstrate that classic community biogeography concepts remain highly relevant to conservation practice today.