Polylepis woodland remnants as biodiversity islands in the Bolivian high Andes

Gareca, Edgar E.; Hermy, Martin; Fjeldså, Jon; Honnay, Olivier

doi:10.1007/s10531-010-9895-9

Cited by 67 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…One unique Andean ecosystem, nestled in the humid and dry Puna along the Andes, is the Polylepis forest (Simpson, 1979; Simpson, 1986; Kessler, 2006). Considered as one of the world’s highest elevation forests (Gareca et al, 2010), it represents a center of avian diversity (Fjeldså et al, 1996; Fjeldså, 2002) and endemism (Fjeldså, Lambin & Mertens, 1999; Fjeldså, 1993), with several birds restricted to this specific ecosystem (Fjeldså & Kessler, 2004; Gareca et al, 2010; Lloyd, 2008a; Lloyd, 2008b; Lloyd, 2008c; Lloyd & Marsden, 2008). According to Fjeldså (2002), 214 bird species use Polylepis forest along the entire range of the Andes, 51 of which are strongly associated to Polylepis and 14 that are highly specialized.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Avian community structure and habitat use ofPolylepisforests along an elevation gradient

Sevillano-Ríos

Rodewald

2017

PeerJ

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BackgroundAs one of the highest forest ecosystems in the world, Polylepis forests are recognized both as center of endemism and diversity along the Andes and as an ecosystem under serious threat from habitat loss, fragmentation, and climate change due to human activities. Effective conservation efforts are limited, in part, by our poor understanding of the ecology and habitat needs of the ecosystem’s flora and fauna.MethodsIn 2014–2015, we studied bird communities and 19 associated local and landscape attributes within five forested glacial valleys within the Cordillera Blanca and Huascaran National Park, Peru. We surveyed birds during the dry (May–August) and wet (January–April) seasons at 130 points distributed along an elevational gradient (3,300–4,700 m) and analyzed our data using Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA).ResultsWe associated a total of 50 species of birds, including 13 species of high conservation concern, with four basic habitat types: (1) Polylepis sericea forests at low elevations, (2) P. weberbaueri forests at high elevations, (3) Puna grassland and (4) shrublands. Four species of conservation priority (e.g., Microspingus alticola) were strongly associated with large forest patches (∼10-ha) of P. sericea at lower elevations (<3,800 m), whereas another four (e.g., Anairetes alpinus) were associated with less disturbed forests of P. weberbaueri at higher elevations (>4,200 m).DiscussionResults suggest two key strategies form the cornerstones of conservation efforts: (a) protect large remnant (>10-ha) P. sericea forests at lower elevations and (b) maintain all relicts of P. weberbaueri, irrespective of size, at high elevations (>4,200 m).

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Avian community structure and habitat use ofPolylepisforests along an elevation gradient

Sevillano-Ríos

Rodewald

2017

PeerJ

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“…Traditional measures of biodiversity (e.g., species richness and diversity indices that include evenness) are commonly used together with Red Lists to understand how species and assemblages are being threatened by human activities [19], [20]. However, so far we have no evidence on whether Red Lists are able to protect species’ ecological traits and evolutionary history, and how this inability affects conservation planning [11], [16], [17], [21]–[25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation Actions Based on Red Lists Do Not Capture the Functional and Phylogenetic Diversity of Birds in Brazil

2013

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Red Lists of threatened species play a critical role in conservation science and practice. However, policy-making based on Red Lists ignores ecological and evolutionary consequences of losing biodiversity because these lists focus on species alone. To decide if relying on Red Lists alone can help to conserve communities’ functional (FD) and phylogenetic (PD) diversity, it is useful to evaluate whether Red List categories represent species with diverse ecological traits and evolutionary histories. Additionally, local scale analyses using regional Red Lists should represent more realistic pools of co-occurring species and thereby better capture eventual losses of FD and PD. Here, we used 21 life-history traits and a phylogeny for all Brazilian birds to determine whether species assigned under the IUCN global Red List, the Brazilian national, and regional Red Lists capture more FD and PD than expected by chance. We also built local Red Lists and analysed if they capture more FD and PD at the local scale. Further, we investigated whether individual threat categories have species with greater FD and PD than expected by chance. At any given scale, threat categories did not capture greater FD or PD than expected by chance. Indeed, mostly categories captured equal or less FD or PD than expected by chance. These findings would not have great consequences if Red Lists were not often considered as a major decision support tool for policy-making. Our results challenge the practice of investing conservation resources based only on species Red Lists because, from an ecological and evolutionary point of view, this would be the same as protecting similar or random sets of species. Thus, new prioritization methods, such as the EDGE of Existence initiative, should be developed and applied to conserve species’ ecological traits and evolutionary histories at different spatial scales.

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“…For example, Byers (2000) found relatively stable margins for forest edges in the Cordillera Blanca; Coblentz and Kintz (2008) documented relatively little change in forest patches in southern Ecuador in terms of forest edges and hence patch location, size, and shape; and the forest patches studied by Jameson and Ramsay (2007) in southern Peru were similar in size over 50 years, although they became less dense. Many of the studies in the Andes implicate a complicating role of land use, with loss of forest due to burning (Cierjacks et al 2008), and with less habitat available for specialist forest species (Lloyd 2008, Gareca et al 2010, Tinoco et al 2013). Hensen and colleagues (2012) showed that topographic barriers and human-caused habitat fragmentation are both constraining the genetic diversity of Polylepis incana in Ecuador.…”

Section: Dynamics Of Woody Plantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecology of Land Cover Change in Glaciated Tropical Mountains

Young

2014

Rev peru biol

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Tropical mountains contain unique biological diversity, and are subject to many consequences of global climate change, exasperated by concurrent socioeconomic shifts. Glaciers are in a negative mass balance, exposing substrates to primary succession and altering downslope wetlands and streams. A review of recent trends and future predictions suggests a likely reduction in areas of open habitat for species of high mountains due to greater woody plant cover, accompanied by land use shifts by farmers and pastoralists along the environmental gradients of tropical mountains. Research is needed on the biodiversity and ecosystem consequences of successional change, including the direct effects of retreating glaciers and the indirect consequences of combined social and ecological drivers in lower elevations. Areas in the high mountains that are protected for nature conservation or managed collectively by local communities represent opportunities for integrated research and development approaches that may provide ecological spaces for future species range shifts.

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Polylepis woodland remnants as biodiversity islands in the Bolivian high Andes

Cited by 67 publications

References 47 publications

Avian community structure and habitat use ofPolylepisforests along an elevation gradient

Avian community structure and habitat use ofPolylepisforests along an elevation gradient

Conservation Actions Based on Red Lists Do Not Capture the Functional and Phylogenetic Diversity of Birds in Brazil

Ecology of Land Cover Change in Glaciated Tropical Mountains

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