Bird functional diversity decreases with time since disturbance: Does patchy prescribed fire enhance ecosystem function?

Sitters, Holly; Stefano, Julian Di; Christie, Fiona J.; Swan, Matthew; York, Alan

doi:10.1890/14-1562

Cited by 45 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…Landscape-level presence-absence data were used to derive estimates of landscape species richness and FD. To calculate FD, we focussed on six traits associated with resource acquisition and use, which are expected to influence relationships between species diversity and ecosystem function [ 46 ]: body mass, clutch size, food type, foraging habit, foraging location and nest form [ 31 ]. We used the six traits to quantify four aspects of FD: richness, evenness, divergence and dispersion [ 47 , 48 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, older vegetation is of disproportionate importance to faunal diversity in some regions [ 29 , 30 ], and might thus be expected to support greater FD. Responses of faunal FD to fire are little-studied but two site-based studies indicate that responses of bird FD to vegetation age vary with fire severity [ 31 , 32 ], which describes spatial patterns of vegetation damage [ 33 ]. FD of understory birds in Amazonian forest was unrelated to high-severity fire frequency categories [ 32 ], whereas negative responses of FD to time since fire were identified in southeast Australia where recent fire was of low severity, suggesting that patchy fire generates resource diversity [ 31 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Responses of faunal FD to fire are little-studied but two site-based studies indicate that responses of bird FD to vegetation age vary with fire severity [ 31 , 32 ], which describes spatial patterns of vegetation damage [ 33 ]. FD of understory birds in Amazonian forest was unrelated to high-severity fire frequency categories [ 32 ], whereas negative responses of FD to time since fire were identified in southeast Australia where recent fire was of low severity, suggesting that patchy fire generates resource diversity [ 31 ]. These studies identify relationships between FD and fire using data from specific points (sites) in the landscape, but it is rarely feasible to manage fire at this scale.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Opposing Responses of Bird Functional Diversity to Vegetation Structural Diversity in Wet and Dry Forest

et al. 2016

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Disturbance regimes are changing worldwide, and the consequences for ecosystem function and resilience are largely unknown. Functional diversity (FD) provides a surrogate measure of ecosystem function by capturing the range, abundance and distribution of trait values in a community. Enhanced understanding of the responses of FD to measures of vegetation structure at landscape scales is needed to guide conservation management. To address this knowledge gap, we used a whole-of-landscape sampling approach to examine relationships between bird FD, vegetation diversity and time since fire. We surveyed birds and measured vegetation at 36 landscape sampling units in dry and wet forest in southeast Australia during 2010 and 2011. Four uncorrelated indices of bird FD (richness, evenness, divergence and dispersion) were derived from six bird traits, and we investigated responses of these indices and species richness to both vertical and horizontal vegetation diversity using linear mixed models. We also considered the extent to which the mean and diversity of time since fire were related to vegetation diversity. Results showed opposing responses of FD to vegetation diversity in dry and wet forest. In dry forest, where fire is frequent, species richness and two FD indices (richness and dispersion) were positively related to vertical vegetation diversity, consistent with theory relating to environmental variation and coexistence. However, in wet forest subject to infrequent fire, the same three response variables were negatively associated with vertical diversity. We suggest that competitive dominance by species results in lower FD as vegetation diversity increases in wet forest. The responses of functional evenness were opposite to those of species richness, functional richness and dispersion in both forest types, highlighting the value of examining multiple FD metrics at management-relevant scales. The mean and diversity of time since fire were uncorrelated with vegetation diversity in wet forest, but positively correlated with vegetation diversity in dry forest. We therefore suggest that protection of older vegetation is important, but controlled application of low-severity fire in dry forest may sustain ecosystem function by enhancing different elements of FD.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Opposing Responses of Bird Functional Diversity to Vegetation Structural Diversity in Wet and Dry Forest

et al. 2016

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“…Relatively few studies have examined how vertebrate functional diversity (as opposed to that of plants or insects) changes in response to landscape change [17,19,34,44], although there has been a recent increase in such research [20, [45][46][47][48][49]. Moreover, most studies have explored only adverse impacts of landscape change (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Avian functional responses to landscape recovery

et al. 2019

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Restoring native vegetation in agricultural landscapes can reverse biodiversity declines via species gains. Depending on whether the traits of colonizers are complementary or redundant to the assemblage, species gains can increase the efficiency or stability of ecological functions, yet detecting these processes is not straightforward. We propose a new conceptual model to identify potential changes to complementarity and redundancy in response to landscape change via relative changes in taxonomic and functional richness. We applied our model to a 14-year study of birds across an extensive agricultural region. We found compelling evidence that high levels of landscape-scale tree cover and patch-scale restoration were significant determinants of functional change in the overall bird assemblage. This was true for every one of the six traits investigated individually, indicating increased trait-specific functional complementarity and redundancy in the assemblage. Applying our conceptual model to species diversity data provided new insights into how the return of vertebrates to restored landscapes may affect ecological function.

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“…In general terms, the responses of bird species to fire are to severity and extent of fire (Barton et al 2014;Lindenmayer et al 2014;Berry et al 2015b); the timing of fire in relation to vegetation succession, and structural and floral maturation processes (Pons and Clavero 2010;Watson et al 2012b;Chalmandrier et al 2013); and the spatial arrangement and contrast of vegetation ages in landscapes (Sitters et al 2015;Sitters et al 2016). Thus, the passage of time and recurrence of fire render mosaics of different vegetation ages as dynamic entities, and species diversity and community composition responses to them are also likely to be dynamic (e.g., Tingley et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildfire and fire mosaic effects on bird species richness and community composition in south-western Australia

Wills¹,

Liddelow²,

Tunsell³

2020

fire ecol

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Background: A fire management strategy of deliberate patch-mosaic burning (PMB) is postulated to promote biodiversity by providing a range of habitat patches with different fire histories, habitat qualities, and vegetation ages at a given scale. We investigated the response of avian fauna to fire, particularly species richness and community composition, in a landscape composed of a diversity of vegetation ages including long-unburned refuges (age 26 years), compared with a landscape of uniform vegetation ages recovering from an extensive and intense fire. Results: There was no effect of heterogeneity in vegetation age on species richness at whole forest management block (about 6000 ha), or local (2 ha) scales. There were different responses of particular species to vegetation age. Nine species showed responses to vegetation age at local (2 ha) scales, which is presumably a surrogate for availability of key resources and which changes over time. Australian Pipit (Anthus australis Vieillot, 1818) were absent from swamp vegetation <3.5 years old, while Spotted Pardalote (Pardalotus punctatus Shaw & Nodder, 1792) were only found in forest vegetation <3.5 years old. Year-to-year changes in local assemblages were detected after removing the effect of time since fire. There was no difference in effect of the two fire regimes on assemblage composition or feeding-guild structure. Conclusions: Mosaics of different vegetation ages had no net benefit for biodiversity, as measured by species richness and assemblage composition, at the forest block management unit scale. Different responses to vegetation age among bird species did not lead to increased bird richness at the scale of forest management block. A potential advantage of mosaics in conservation of avian biodiversity is through preservation of patches of older vegetation ages in the landscape, compared to the periodic extensive loss of older vegetation ages in wildfires. However, the absence of large-scale effects of vegetation age on bird species richness, the tendency for birds to specialize to fuel ages >5.5 years in the landscape studied, and indications of flexible responses of some species at landscape scales allows some flexibility in fuel management strategies and the scale at which they are applied with respect to avifauna.

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Bird functional diversity decreases with time since disturbance: Does patchy prescribed fire enhance ecosystem function?

Cited by 45 publications

References 83 publications

Opposing Responses of Bird Functional Diversity to Vegetation Structural Diversity in Wet and Dry Forest

Opposing Responses of Bird Functional Diversity to Vegetation Structural Diversity in Wet and Dry Forest

Avian functional responses to landscape recovery

Wildfire and fire mosaic effects on bird species richness and community composition in south-western Australia

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