High-quality surrounding landscapes mitigate avian extirpations from forest remnants
Abstract
The species–area relationship (SAR) has long been used to predict extirpation rates from habitat loss, but these rates depend not only on habitat area but also on the surrounding landscape and species’ habitat specialization. We collated global data from forest islands created by river damming and forest fragments resulting from clear-cut deforestation to examine the effects of matrix type (aquatic or terrestrial) and tree cover on avian SARs. Unlike oceanic islands, which are often millions of years old, anthropogenic forest islands provide a contemporary analog to forest fragments to understand matrix effects on SARs and serve as a baseline for worst-case scenarios of forest fragmentation. Our database comprises 50 datasets from 45 studies conducted in tropical and subtropical regions, totaling 1,954 bird species detected through 39,197 incidence records from 336 forest islands and 669 forest fragments. We found that bird extirpation rates were lower in fragments than on islands, especially for forest-dependent species compared to all species. Species losses were further reduced by increasing tree cover around forest remnants at local landscape scales of 300 m, highlighting the importance of small-scale conservation strategies. Moreover, even small forest fragments with greater nearby tree cover held high conservation value, emphasizing the crucial role of the surrounding landscape in mitigating avian extirpations from forest remnants. Beyond protecting forest remnants themselves, area-based conservation efforts would therefore be greatly enhanced by improving matrix quality and expanding tree cover in otherwise hostile landscapes.
Article Details
Journal Info
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Sciences
Authors (58)
Anderson S. Bueno
Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Farroupilha
Chase D. Mendenhall
Physician Assistant Studies, Slippery Rock University
Marina Anciães
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
Luiz dos Anjos
Departamento de Biologia Animal e Vegetal, Universidade Estadual de Londrina
Víctor Arroyo-Rodríguez
Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Marco Aurélio-Silva
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
Cristina Banks-Leite
Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London
Matthew G. Betts
Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University
Arthur A. Bispo
Laboratório de Etnobiologia e Biodiversidade, Universidade Federal de Goiás
Andrea Larissa Boesing
Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung
Marconi Campos-Cerqueira
WildMon
Olivier Claessens
Groupe d’Étude et de Protection des Oiseaux en Guyane
Will Cresswell
Centre for Biological Diversity, University of St. Andrews
Gretchen C. Daily
Department of Biology, Stanford University
Filibus Danjuma Dami
A.P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute, University of Jos
Sidnei M. Dantas
Instituto Tecnológico Vale
Pedro F. Develey
SAVE Brasil
Ping Ding
State Key Laboratory of Deep Earth Processes and Resources, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
David P. Edwards
Márcio A. Efe
Laboratório de Bioecologia e Conservação de Aves Neotropicais, Universidade Federal de Alagoas
Deborah Faria
Kenneth J. Feeley
Department of Biology, University of Miami
Thomas W. Gillespie
Department of Geography, University of California
Adam S. Hadley
New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development
Jack H. Hatfield
Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity and Department of Biology, University of York
Luiza Magalli Pinto Henriques
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
Lars H. Holbech
Department of Animal Biology and Conservation Science, University of Ghana
Gregory J. Irving
Conservation Ecology Program, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi
Urs G. Kormann
Swiss Ornithological Institute
M. Jyothi Krishnan
Department of Wildlife Science, Kerala Agricultural University
Marilise M. Krügel
Departamento de Engenharia Sanitária e Ambiental, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria
Jesse R. Lasky
Michael J. Lawes
School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Alexander C. Lees
Luc Lens
Centre for Research on Ecology, Cognition and Behaviour of Birds, Ghent University
Lahert William Lobo-Araújo
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Recursos Naturais, Universidade Federal de São Carlos
Leithen K. M’Gonigle
Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University
Mohammad Saiful Mansor
Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Shiiwua A. Manu
A.P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute, University of Jos
Miguel Ângelo Marini
Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade de Brasília
Alexandre Camargo Martensen
Centro de Ciências da Natureza, Universidade Federal de São Carlos
Thomas J. Matthews
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences and Birmingham Institute of Forest Research, University of Birmingham
Jean Paul Metzger
Randall Moore
Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, Oregon State University
José Carlos Morante-Filho
Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz
P. O. Nameer
Department of Wildlife Science, Kerala Agricultural University
Shukor Md Nor
Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Helon Simões Oliveira
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação, Universidade Federal de Sergipe
Rômulo Ribon
Museu de Zoologia João Moojen, Departamento de Biologia Animal, Universidade Federal de Viçosa
Viviana Ruiz-Gutiérrez
Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University
Luís Fábio Silveira
Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo
Philip C Stouffer
School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University AgCenter and Louisiana State University
John W. Terborgh
Department of Biology, University of Florida
Alexandre Uezu
Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas
Yanping Wang
Zhejiang Engineering Research Center for Biological Control of Crop Pathogens and Insects, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Biology and Ecological Regulation of Crop Pathogens and Insects, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Key Lab of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insect Pests, State Key Lab of Rice Biology and Breeding, Institute of Insect Sciences, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University
Robyn Wethered
Cossypha Ecological
Ding Li Yong
BirdLife International (Asia), Tanglin International Centre
Carlos A. Peres