Effects of habitat disturbance on mixed species bird flocks in a tropical sub-montane rainforest

Avian Influenza Viruses in Wild Land Birds in Northern Vietnam

“…Similarly, three of the four species that were M gene-positive forage in flocks. Flocks can include dozens of individuals of single or mixed species during the nonbreeding season (Lee et al, 2005) when birds are likely to be roosting or moving locally together. As with waterfowl (Munster and Fouchier, 2009), flocking behavior in passerines might enhance transmission of pathogens among birds due to frequent social interactions, such as food or water sharing or allogrooming, leading to relatively higher prevalence in more social species.…”

The structure of mixed-species bird flocks, and their response to anthropogenic disturbance, with special reference to East Asia

“…First, flocks are particularly easy to locate and observe and can serve as a surrogate for the whole community (Lee et al 2005). Second, conservation strategists are increasingly calling for the protection of species interactions and aspects of community structure, above and beyond the protection of species themselves (Tylianakis et al 2009;Kiers et al 2010;Valiente-Banuet et al 2015), and flocks are an important type of mutualism.…”

“…The second gradient is land-use intensity, including the effects of selective logging (Thiollay 1992(Thiollay , 1999b, various kinds of agriculture or agroforestry (Sidhu et al 2010;Zhang et al 2013;Goodale et al 2014;McDermott and Rodewald 2014;Colorado and Rodewald, in press), livestock grazing and firewood/ charcoal collection (Knowlton and Graham 2011), and urbanization (Lee et al 2005). Again, flock structure decreases as intensity of land degradation increases, most likely due to changes in the structural complexity of different habitats (Lee et al 2005;Zhang et al 2013;Colorado and Rodewald, in press), or the percentage of forest cover near the site at a landscape level (Colorado and Rodewald, in press). …”

“…That mixedspecies flocks breakdown in non-forested habitats is perhaps not surprising given that they are considered to be an adaptation to the vertical structural complexity provided by forest habitat (Terborgh 1990). Indeed, the driving force behind flock breakdown in non-forested environments may be the lack of complex vegetation (Lee et al 2005).…”

Navjot S. Sodhi (18 March 1962-12 June 2011)

“…With his army of co-workers, Navjot collected valuable empirical data from numerous field sites, spanning the lowlands to highlands, and across diverse landscapes in the relatively unknown Southeast Asian tropics (e.g. Liow, Sodhi & Elmqvist, 2001;Sodhi et al, 2004;2008;Lee et al, 2005;Peh et al, 2005;Qie et al, 2011). Through these projects, Navjot demonstrated that tropical primary forests are irreplaceable for biodiversity conservation.…”