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The role of climate and environmental variables in structuring bird assemblages in the Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests (SDTFs)
Understanding the processes that influence species diversity is still a challenge in ecological studies. However, there are two main theories to discuss this topic, the niche theory and the neutral theory. Our objective was to understand the importance of environmental and spatial processes in struc...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2017
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5404791/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28441412 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0176066 |
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author | Gonçalves, Gabriela Silva Ribeiro Cerqueira, Pablo Vieira Brasil, Leandro Schlemmer Santos, Marcos Pérsio Dantas |
author_facet | Gonçalves, Gabriela Silva Ribeiro Cerqueira, Pablo Vieira Brasil, Leandro Schlemmer Santos, Marcos Pérsio Dantas |
author_sort | Gonçalves, Gabriela Silva Ribeiro |
collection | PubMed |
description | Understanding the processes that influence species diversity is still a challenge in ecological studies. However, there are two main theories to discuss this topic, the niche theory and the neutral theory. Our objective was to understand the importance of environmental and spatial processes in structuring bird communities within the hydrological seasons in dry forest areas in northeastern Brazil. The study was conducted in two National Parks, the Serra da Capivara and Serra das Confusões National Parks, where 36 areas were sampled in different seasons (dry, dry/rainy transition, rainy, rainy/dry transition), in 2012 and 2013. We found with our results that bird species richness is higher in the rainy season and lower during the dry season, indicating a strong influence of seasonality, a pattern also found for environmental heterogeneity. Richness was explained by local environmental factors, while species composition was explained by environmental and spatial factors. The environmental factors were more important in explaining variations in composition. Climate change predictions have currently pointed out frequent drought events and a rise in global temperature by 2050, which would lead to changes in species behavior and to increasing desertification in some regions, including the Caatinga. In addition, the high deforestation rates and the low level of representativeness of the Caatinga in the conservation units negatively affects bird communities. This scenario has demonstrated how climatic factors affect individuals, and, therefore, should be the starting point for conservation initiatives to be developed in xeric environments. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5404791 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2017 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-54047912017-05-12 The role of climate and environmental variables in structuring bird assemblages in the Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests (SDTFs) Gonçalves, Gabriela Silva Ribeiro Cerqueira, Pablo Vieira Brasil, Leandro Schlemmer Santos, Marcos Pérsio Dantas PLoS One Research Article Understanding the processes that influence species diversity is still a challenge in ecological studies. However, there are two main theories to discuss this topic, the niche theory and the neutral theory. Our objective was to understand the importance of environmental and spatial processes in structuring bird communities within the hydrological seasons in dry forest areas in northeastern Brazil. The study was conducted in two National Parks, the Serra da Capivara and Serra das Confusões National Parks, where 36 areas were sampled in different seasons (dry, dry/rainy transition, rainy, rainy/dry transition), in 2012 and 2013. We found with our results that bird species richness is higher in the rainy season and lower during the dry season, indicating a strong influence of seasonality, a pattern also found for environmental heterogeneity. Richness was explained by local environmental factors, while species composition was explained by environmental and spatial factors. The environmental factors were more important in explaining variations in composition. Climate change predictions have currently pointed out frequent drought events and a rise in global temperature by 2050, which would lead to changes in species behavior and to increasing desertification in some regions, including the Caatinga. In addition, the high deforestation rates and the low level of representativeness of the Caatinga in the conservation units negatively affects bird communities. This scenario has demonstrated how climatic factors affect individuals, and, therefore, should be the starting point for conservation initiatives to be developed in xeric environments. Public Library of Science 2017-04-25 /pmc/articles/PMC5404791/ /pubmed/28441412 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0176066 Text en © 2017 Gonçalves et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Gonçalves, Gabriela Silva Ribeiro Cerqueira, Pablo Vieira Brasil, Leandro Schlemmer Santos, Marcos Pérsio Dantas The role of climate and environmental variables in structuring bird assemblages in the Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests (SDTFs) |
title | The role of climate and environmental variables in structuring bird assemblages in the Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests (SDTFs) |
title_full | The role of climate and environmental variables in structuring bird assemblages in the Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests (SDTFs) |
title_fullStr | The role of climate and environmental variables in structuring bird assemblages in the Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests (SDTFs) |
title_full_unstemmed | The role of climate and environmental variables in structuring bird assemblages in the Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests (SDTFs) |
title_short | The role of climate and environmental variables in structuring bird assemblages in the Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests (SDTFs) |
title_sort | role of climate and environmental variables in structuring bird assemblages in the seasonally dry tropical forests (sdtfs) |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5404791/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28441412 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0176066 |
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