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Directional effects of biotic homogenization of bird communities in Mexican seasonal forests

Biotic homogenization—the erosion of biological differences between ecosystems owing to human perturbation—is a trait of the global biodiversity crisis that can affect tropical dry forest biodiversity. We tested whether biotic homogenization was occurring in resident forest bird communities in west-...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Condor (Los Angeles, Calif.) Calif.), 2017-05, Vol.119 (2), p.275-288
Main Authors: Vázquez-Reyes, Leopoldo D, Arizmendi, María del Coro, O. Godínez-Álvarez, Héctor, Navarro-Sigüenza, Adolfo G
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Biotic homogenization—the erosion of biological differences between ecosystems owing to human perturbation—is a trait of the global biodiversity crisis that can affect tropical dry forest biodiversity. We tested whether biotic homogenization was occurring in resident forest bird communities in west-central Mexico. We conducted point-count surveys to assess biotic dissimilarity between resident bird communities in tropical deciduous and oak forests in the upper Balsas River basin across 3 levels of anthropogenic perturbation: primary forest, second-growth forest, and human settlements. We detected a reduction in species richness and taxonomic dissimilarity with increasing anthropogenic effects, due to a directional pattern in which lowland species expanded their elevational distributions up into oak forests. These results point to a need to change agricultural strategies to mitigate impacts on natural vegetation cover and biodiversity.
ISSN:0010-5422
1938-5129
2732-4621
DOI:10.1650/CONDOR-16-116.1