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Avian Research 2019, 10(1): 25 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-019-0164-7
Research | Open Access | Issue | Published: 20 June 2019

Spatiotemporal distribution of seasonal bird assemblages on land-bridge islands: linking dynamic and static views of metacommunities

Show Author's Information Chuanwu Chen1,2,  Marcel Holyoak3,  Yanping Wang1,2,  Xingfeng Si4,  Ping Ding1( )
College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310020, China
Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210046, China
Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
Keywords:
Competition, Body size, Colonization, Extirpation, Island turnover, Metacommunity
Cite this article:
Chen C, Holyoak M, Wang Y, et al. Spatiotemporal distribution of seasonal bird assemblages on land-bridge islands: linking dynamic and static views of metacommunities. Avian Research, 2019, 10(1): 25. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-019-0164-7
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Abstract Full text About this article
Background

Although assessing temporal dynamics of populations is crucial for understanding metacommunities, empirical studies have primarily analyzed only static snapshots of communities. Here, we present a holistic view of how species traits and habitat characteristics relate to metacommunity dynamics and use it to test for differences in the spatiotemporal distribution of seasonal bird assemblages.

Methods

We surveyed forest birds in breeding and winter seasons within 36 islands for 9 years. We then grouped birds into four landbird assemblages, selected on the basis of published differences in biology or ecology: winter residents, migratory winter visitors, breeding summer residents, and migratory summer visitors. We estimated dynamic species colonization and extirpation through the 9-year period, and evaluated the associations among island attributes, species attributes and community composition.

Results

Overall, winter and summer residents showed strong associations between composition and habitat structure of the islands. In addition, winter and summer residents on large islands had lower extirpation and turnover than winter and summer visitors. Visitor assemblages showed no significant habitat associations, and in winter had high extirpation rates and small body sizes. By contrast, local extirpation of summer visitors was correlated with local species richness, indicating a likely effect of competition on extirpation.

Conclusions

Our results demonstrated repeated patterns among species composition, bird traits, habitat/island characteristics and observed metacommunity dynamics. Winter and summer residents best matched species sorting and patch dynamics, respectively, due to differences in resource availability and requirements of overwinter survival versus breeding. Summer visitors were consistent with species sorting and winter visitors were randomly distributed, likely because of interactions with resident competitors. Our results highlight that coexisting seasonal migrant and resident assemblages differ in their spatial dynamics, with consequences for relevant conservation and management strategies.


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About this article

Spatiotemporal distribution of seasonal bird assemblages on land-bridge islands: linking dynamic and static views of metacommunities

Show Author's information Chuanwu Chen1,2, Marcel Holyoak3, Yanping Wang1,2, Xingfeng Si4, Ping Ding1( )
College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310020, China
Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210046, China
Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China

Abstract

Background

Although assessing temporal dynamics of populations is crucial for understanding metacommunities, empirical studies have primarily analyzed only static snapshots of communities. Here, we present a holistic view of how species traits and habitat characteristics relate to metacommunity dynamics and use it to test for differences in the spatiotemporal distribution of seasonal bird assemblages.

Methods

We surveyed forest birds in breeding and winter seasons within 36 islands for 9 years. We then grouped birds into four landbird assemblages, selected on the basis of published differences in biology or ecology: winter residents, migratory winter visitors, breeding summer residents, and migratory summer visitors. We estimated dynamic species colonization and extirpation through the 9-year period, and evaluated the associations among island attributes, species attributes and community composition.

Results

Overall, winter and summer residents showed strong associations between composition and habitat structure of the islands. In addition, winter and summer residents on large islands had lower extirpation and turnover than winter and summer visitors. Visitor assemblages showed no significant habitat associations, and in winter had high extirpation rates and small body sizes. By contrast, local extirpation of summer visitors was correlated with local species richness, indicating a likely effect of competition on extirpation.

Conclusions

Our results demonstrated repeated patterns among species composition, bird traits, habitat/island characteristics and observed metacommunity dynamics. Winter and summer residents best matched species sorting and patch dynamics, respectively, due to differences in resource availability and requirements of overwinter survival versus breeding. Summer visitors were consistent with species sorting and winter visitors were randomly distributed, likely because of interactions with resident competitors. Our results highlight that coexisting seasonal migrant and resident assemblages differ in their spatial dynamics, with consequences for relevant conservation and management strategies.

Keywords: Competition, Body size, Colonization, Extirpation, Island turnover, Metacommunity

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Publication history

Received: 22 March 2019
Accepted: 14 June 2019
Published: 20 June 2019
Issue date: January 2019

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© The Author(s) 2019.

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