Insights into the Maintenance of High Species Diversity in the Neotropics: Habitat Selection and Foraging Behavior in Understory Birds of Tropical and Temperate Forests

Marraand, Peter P.; Remsen, J. V.

doi:10.2307/40157547

Cited by 66 publications

(41 citation statements)

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“…For example, narrower niches imply fewer links per species (i.e. greater specialization) in the tropics [30,31] (but see [18]). However, average numbers of links per species tend to increase in larger food webs [29,32].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Latitudinal gradients in biotic niche breadth vary across ecosystem types

2015

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Several properties of food webs-the networks of feeding links between species-are known to vary systematically with the species richness of the underlying community. Under the 'latitude-niche breadth hypothesis', which predicts that species in the tropics will tend to evolve narrower niches, one might expect that these scaling relationships could also be affected by latitude. To test this hypothesis, we analysed the scaling relationships between species richness and average generality, vulnerability and links per species across a set of 196 empirical food webs. In estuarine, marine and terrestrial food webs there was no effect of latitude on any scaling relationship, suggesting constant niche breadth in these habitats. In freshwater communities, on the other hand, there were strong effects of latitude on scaling relationships, supporting the latitude-niche breadth hypothesis. These contrasting findings indicate that it may be more important to account for habitat than latitude when exploring gradients in food-web structure.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Latitudinal gradients in biotic niche breadth vary across ecosystem types

2015

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“…To characterize morphology across the Thamnophilidae, we measured ten characters (Table 1) on museum specimens following Baldwin, Oberholser & Worley (1931) and using one specimen per each of 140 species. Foraging stratum, which is an important axis of local ecological differentiation in forest birds (Marra & Remsen 1997), was also considered an a trait. For each species, we assigned a value from one to five for foraging strata (Parker, Stotz & Fitzpatrick 1996), with one assigned to terrestrial species and five to canopy species.…”

Section: Selection Of Traits and Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A phylogenetic approach to disentangling the role of competition and habitat filtering in community assembly of Neotropical forest birds

Gómez

Bravo

Brumfield

et al. 2010

Journal of Animal Ecology

147

158

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Summary 1.Methods that assess patterns of phylogenetic relatedness, as well as character distribution and evolution, allow one to infer the ecological processes involved in community assembly. Assuming niche conservatism, assemblages should shift from phylogenetic clustering to evenness with decreasing geographic scale because the relative importance of mechanisms that shape assemblages is hypothesized to be scale-dependent. Whereas habitat filtering is more likely to act at regional scales because of increased habitat heterogeneity that allows sorting of ecologically similar species in contrasting environments, competition is more likely to act at local scales because low habitat heterogeneity provides few opportunities for niche partitioning. 2. We used species lists to assess assemblage composition, data on ecologically-relevant traits, and a molecular phylogeny, to examine the phylogenetic structure of antbird (Thamnophilidae) assemblages at three different geographical scales: regional (ecoregions), intermediate (100-ha plots) and local (mixed-flocks). In addition, we used patterns of phylogenetic beta diversity and beta diversity to separate the factors that structure antbird assemblages at regional scales. 3. Contrary to previous findings, we found a shift from phylogenetic evenness to clustering with decreasing geographical scale. We argue that this does not reject the hypothesis that habitat filtering is the predominant force in regional community assembly, because analyses of trait evolution and structure indicated a lack of niche conservatism in antbirds. 4. In some cases, phylogenetic evenness at regional scales can be an effect of historical biogeographic processes instead of niche-based processes. However, regional patterns of beta diversity and phylogenetic beta diversity suggested that phylogenetic structure in our study cannot be explained by the history of speciation and dispersal of antbirds, further supporting the habitatfiltering hypothesis. 5. Our analyses suggested that competitive interactions might not play an important role locally, which would provide a plausible explanation for the high alpha diversity of antbirds in Amazonia. 6. Finally, we emphasize the importance of including trait information in studies of phylogenetic community structure to adequately assess the mechanisms that determine species co-existence.

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“…-Foraging height has been found to be a speciesspecific trait in several lowland rainforest bird communities (Pearson 1971, Bell 1982, Marra and Remsen 1997, Walther 2002) and results reported here support these findings.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…Less obvious are the mechanisms explaining how structural complexity in plant communities relates to reproductive isolation of sympatric bird populations. The vertical distribution of the avifauna in tropical forests has been argued to explain tighter species packing into narrow foraging breadths (Marra and Remsen 1997). On the other hand, song has been shown to be important in mate choice and reproductive divergence (Searcy andAnderson 1986, Searcy andYasukawa 1996) and the dawn chorus may represent an important opportunity for males to communicate information concerning fitness (Otter et al 1997).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vertical attenuation of light predicts the sequence to dawn song in a tropical forest avifuana

Berg¹

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All rights reserved.iii The concentration of avian song at first light (i.e., the dawn chorus) is widely appreciated but has an enigmatic functional significance. The most widely accepted explanation is that birds are active but light levels are not adequate for foraging. As a consequence, the time of first song should be predictable from the light level of individuals singing at dawn. To test this, I collected data from a tropical forest of Ecuador, involving 130 species. Light intensity at first song was a highly repeatable species' trait (r = 0.57). Foraging height was a good predictor of first song, with canopy birds singing at lower light levels than understory birds (r = -0.62). Although light level predicts the onset of singing in tropical and temperate bird communities, the structural complexity and trophic specializations in tropical forests may exert an important influence, which has been overlooked in research conducted in the temperate zone.vi

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Insights into the Maintenance of High Species Diversity in the Neotropics: Habitat Selection and Foraging Behavior in Understory Birds of Tropical and Temperate Forests

Cited by 66 publications

References 50 publications

Latitudinal gradients in biotic niche breadth vary across ecosystem types

Latitudinal gradients in biotic niche breadth vary across ecosystem types

A phylogenetic approach to disentangling the role of competition and habitat filtering in community assembly of Neotropical forest birds

Vertical attenuation of light predicts the sequence to dawn song in a tropical forest avifuana

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