Trophic Flexibility and the Persistence of Understory Birds in Intensively Logged Rainforest

Edwards, David P.; Woodcock, Paul; Newton, Robert J.; Edwards, Felicity A.; Andrews, D. J.; Docherty, Teegan D. S.; Mitchell, Simon L.; Ota, Tetsuji; Benedick, Suzan; Bottrell, Simon H.; Hamer, Keith C.

doi:10.1111/cobi.12059

Cited by 49 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Human‐induced habitat degradation can lead to systematic changes in some traits within a species, through a combination of phenotypic plasticity and the selective disappearance of individuals with particular phenotypes (Edwards et al . ; Hamer et al . ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Data on trophic positions were taken from Table S3 of Edwards et al . (). Data on dietary composition and foraging substrates (from Wilman et al .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Kernel densities represent the range of generated body mass values in our individual‐based model, for six species of different abundance (data from Appendix S3 in Edwards et al . ). Grey dotted lines, Arachnothera longirostra (N = 79); black dotted lines, Hypogramma hypogrammicum (N = 24); black solid lines, Stachyris erythroptera (N = 21); grey dashed lines, Hypothymis azurea (N = 5); Black dashed lines, Orthotomus sericeus (N = 3); grey solid lines, Rhipidura perlata (N = 3). We used these ‘virtual’ individuals to calculate each of our five FD indices across all individuals in each habitat. We repeated steps (2) and (3) above 1000 times to generate habitat‐specific means for each FD index.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…We use community data from a previous study (Edwards et al . ) to calculate FD for bird communities in primary forest and in forest that had been subjected to repeated rounds of selective logging, following Edwards et al . ().…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Incorporating intraspecific trait variation into functional diversity: Impacts of selective logging on birds in Borneo

et al. 2017

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Summary As conservation increasingly recognizes the importance of species’ functional roles in ecosystem processes, studies are shifting away from measuring species richness towards measures that account for the functional differences between species in a community. These functional diversity (FD) indices have received much recent attention and refinement, but their greatest limitation remains their inability to incorporate information about intraspecific trait variation (ITV). We use an individual‐based model to account for ITV when calculating the functional diversity of two avian communities in Borneo; one in primary (unlogged) forest and one in selectively logged forest. We deal with the scarcity of trait data for individual species by developing a simulation approach, taking data from the literature where necessary. Using a bootstrapping procedure, we produce a range of ecologically feasible FD values taking account of ITV for five commonly used FD indices, and we quantify the confidence that can be placed in these values, using a newly developed bootstrapping method: btFD. We find that incorporating ITV significantly alters the FD values of all indices used in our models. The rank order of FD for the two communities, indicating whether diversity was higher in primary or selectively logged forest, is largely unchanged by the inclusion of ITV. However, by accounting for ITV, we are able to reveal previously unrecognized impacts of selective logging on avian functional diversity through a narrower dispersion of individuals in functional trait space in logged forest. Our results highlight the importance of incorporating ITV into measures of functional diversity, whilst our simulation approach addresses the frequently encountered difficulty of working with sparse trait data and quantifies the confidence that should be placed in such findings.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Data on trophic positions were taken from Table S3 of Edwards et al . (). Data on dietary composition and foraging substrates (from Wilman et al .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Incorporating intraspecific trait variation into functional diversity: Impacts of selective logging on birds in Borneo

et al. 2017

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“…pollination or seed dispersal [11]) and how these are organized within larger networks of interactions (network structure [12]), with important consequences for ecosystem stability within logged forests. For instance, the trophic organization of bird and ant communities shifts after logging, with species tending to feed from higher up the food chain, representing less frugivory and more insectivory for birds [13], and more predatory behaviour for ants [14] (see also [15]). In addition, the conversion of forest to agricultural plantations and pasturelands shifts the evenness of interaction frequencies and the rates of parasitism in host-parasitoid food webs, with cascading impacts on important ecosystem services, such as pollination [16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selective logging in tropical forests decreases the robustness of liana–tree interaction networks to the loss of host tree species

et al. 2016

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Selective logging is one of the major drivers of tropical forest degradation, causing important shifts in species composition. Whether such changes modify interactions between species and the networks in which they are embedded remain fundamental questions to assess the 'health' and ecosystem functionality of logged forests. We focus on interactions between lianas and their tree hosts within primary and selectively logged forests in the biodiversity hotspot of Malaysian Borneo. We found that lianas were more abundant, had higher species richness, and different species compositions in logged than in primary forests. Logged forests showed heavier liana loads disparately affecting slowgrowing tree species, which could exacerbate the loss of timber value and carbon storage already associated with logging. Moreover, simulation scenarios of host tree local species loss indicated that logging might decrease the robustness of liana-tree interaction networks if heavily infested trees (i.e. the most connected ones) were more likely to disappear. This effect is partially mitigated in the short term by the colonization of host trees by a greater diversity of liana species within logged forests, yet this might not compensate for the loss of preferred tree hosts in the long term. As a consequence, species interaction networks may show a lagged response to disturbance, which may trigger sudden collapses in species richness and ecosystem function in response to additional disturbances, representing a new type of 'extinction debt'.

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Trophic position determines the persistence of neotropical understory birds after forest disturbance

Paces,

Wanek,

Voigt

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Habitat loss and degradation are key drivers of the current biodiversity crisis. Most research focuses on the question of which traits allow species to persist in degraded habitats. We asked whether a species' trophic position or niche width influences the resilience of species in degraded habitats and to what extent habitat degradation affects trophic interactions between species. We used nitrogen isotope ratios (15N:14N, expressed as δ15N value) to quantify and compare trophic positions and niche widths of understory birds inhabiting old‐growth and young secondary forests in the Pacific lowlands of Costa Rica. We found that a species' trophic position rather than its trophic niche width determined its persistence in secondary forests. Species feeding at lower trophic levels in old‐growth forests were less likely to persist in secondary forests than those occupying a higher trophic position in old‐growth forests. This pattern is likely induced by the occurrence of relatively large‐bodied habitat specialists with a flexible and high‐trophic level diet in secondary forests. These habitat specialists likely caused generalist bird species to lower their trophic position relative to conspecifics in old‐growth forests. Regarding trophic niche widths, species in secondary forests tend to have larger niche widths than old‐growth forest species. However, as old‐growth forest specialists and generalists did not differ in their niche widths, no systematic effect of trophic niche width on species persistence after forest disturbance was found. This is the first study that shows a systematic effect of trophic position on the persistence of a wide range of bird species in a disturbed forest ecosystem. It therefore provides important insights into species' responses to habitat degradation and the conservation value of secondary forests. To improve habitat quality for old‐growth forest birds and facilitate avian seed dispersal, the creation of large contiguous forest patches should be prioritised when implementing reforestation measures.

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Trophic Flexibility and the Persistence of Understory Birds in Intensively Logged Rainforest

Cited by 49 publications

References 48 publications

Incorporating intraspecific trait variation into functional diversity: Impacts of selective logging on birds in Borneo

Incorporating intraspecific trait variation into functional diversity: Impacts of selective logging on birds in Borneo

Selective logging in tropical forests decreases the robustness of liana–tree interaction networks to the loss of host tree species

Trophic position determines the persistence of neotropical understory birds after forest disturbance

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