Habitat-specialist owls, but not generalists, are reliable surrogates for taxonomic and functional diversity in Andean temperate forests
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Date
2015
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Abstract
Conservation practices commonly focus on measures of species diversity that merelyinclude information on species richness (i.e., taxonomic diversity). However, functionaldiversity (range, distribution and density of trait values of species in a community) should be more informative than taxonomic diversity as it measures those aspects of diversity thataffect ecosystem function. Previous work in the northern hemisphere has shown that owlsmay act as surrogates for taxonomic diversity but little is known on their value assurrogates of functional diversity. We assessed the surrogacy reliability of two sympatricowls, Strix rufipes (habitat-specialist) and Glaucidium nana (habitat-generalist), in Andeantemperate forests of southern Chile. During 2011-2013, we conducted 1,145 owl surveys,505 avian point-transects and 505 vegetation surveys across 101 sites comprising a range ofconditions from degraded habitat to structurally complex old-growth forest stands. Wefound that only Strix rufipes was a reliable surrogate for both taxonomic and functionaldiversity measures, including the density of vulnerable avian guilds (e.g., bamboounderstory users and large-tree users) and the degree of habitat-specialization of the aviancommunity. We found that forest-stand structural complexity (sites with dense understoryand availability of large trees) was the underlying mechanism driving the positive relation between forest-specialist owls and biodiversity. Our results show a tight association between habitat-specialist owls and avian functional traits that may be more informativethan species richness to prioritize the conservation of stable, functioning ecosystems
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Keywords
Bird, Forest Ecology, Wildlife Conservation, Environment, Ornithology, Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Raptors and owls