Journal article
Long-term changes in avian biomass and functional diversity within disturbed and undisturbed Amazonian rainforest
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, v 289(1981), 20221123
31 Aug 2022
PMID: 35975441
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Recent long-term studies in protected areas have revealed the loss of biodiversity, yet the ramifications for ecosystem health and resilience remain unknown. Here, we investigate how the loss of understory birds, in the lowest stratum of the forest, affects avian biomass and functional diversity in the Amazon rainforest. Across approximately 30 years in the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, we used a historical baseline of avian communities to contrast the avian communities in today's primary forest with those in modern disturbed habitat. We found that in primary rainforest, the reduced abundance of insectivorous species led to reduced functional diversity, but no reduction of biomass, indicating that species with similar functional traits are less likely to coexist in modern primary forests. Because today's forests contain fewer functionally redundant species-those with similar traits-we argue that avian communities in modern primary Amazonian rainforests are less resilient, which may ultimately disrupt the ecosystem in dynamic and unforeseen ways.
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Details
- Title
- Long-term changes in avian biomass and functional diversity within disturbed and undisturbed Amazonian rainforest
- Publication Details
- PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, v 289(1981), 20221123
- Publisher
- ROYAL SOC; LONDON
- Grant note
- NSF LTREB 0545491 and 1257340 and National Institute of Food and Agriculture, US Department of Agriculture, McIntire Stennis projects nos. 94098 and 94327 supported work since 2007.
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Drexel University
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000841297600013
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85135981642
- Other Identifier
- 991021861196704721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Biology
- Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology