Laboratório de Biodiversidade, Departamento de Biodiversidade, Evolução e Meio Ambiente, Instituto de Ciências Exatas e Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brasil.
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Análise e Modelagem de Sistemas Ambientais, Departamento de Cartografia, Instituto de Ciências Geológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
PLoS One. 2018 Jun 18;13(6):e0198732. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0198732. eCollection 2018.
Consequences of habitat fragmentation for species occurrence are amongst the most important issues in landscape and conservation ecology. Empirical and theoretical studies have demonstrated that the total amount of habitat, patch size and connectivity have nonlinear effects on species survival on multiple spatial and temporal scales. Therefore, population models need to incorporate multiple scales, which can be extremely valuable to prioritizing conservation efforts in these changing landscapes. We tested how the amount and configuration of habitat affect understory bird species occurrence using fine to broad-scale habitat features. We used playback to sample birds in 13 Atlantic Forest fragments in Southeast Brazil. Microhabitat, local and regional landscape variables were tested against bird occurrence. Our results demonstrate that different bird species respond to different habitat scales. Sclerurus scansor, Xiphorhynchus fuscus, Automolus leucophthalmus, Drymophila ochropyga, Mackenziaena leachii, and Chiroxiphia caudata were most influenced by tree height and diameter (microhabitat characteristics), S. scansor, F. serrana and Pyriglena leucoptera were most influenced by forest cover and red-edge reflectance(local-scale metrics) and S. scansor, X. fuscus, D. ochropyga, P. leucoptera, F. serrana and M. leachii had area, core area and functional connectivity index (landscape features) as stronger predictors of species occurrence. Small forest fragments acted as corridors and increased overall connectivity of the entire community. The most effective means of maintaining long-term population connectivity of understory birds involves retaining both large and small areas, including forests with different micro-habitat characteristics. No management approach based on a single-scale would benefit all species. Implementing multiscale conservation strategies are necessary for maintaining long-term viability of forest birds on tropical landscapes.
生境破碎化对物种出现的后果是景观和保护生态学中最重要的问题之一。实证和理论研究表明，在多个时空尺度上，栖息地总量、斑块大小和连通性对物种生存具有非线性影响。因此，种群模型需要纳入多个尺度，这对于在这些不断变化的景观中优先考虑保护工作非常有价值。我们测试了生境的数量和配置如何通过精细到广泛的生境特征来影响林下鸟类物种的出现。我们使用播放的方法在巴西东南部的 13 个大西洋森林片段中对鸟类进行采样。微生境、局部和区域景观变量与鸟类出现情况进行了对比。研究结果表明，不同的鸟类物种对不同的生境尺度有不同的反应。Sclerurus scansor、Xiphorhynchus fuscus、Automolus leucophthalmus、Drymophila ochropyga、Mackenziaena leachii 和 Chiroxiphia caudata 最受树木高度和直径（微生境特征）的影响，S. scansor、F. serrana 和 Pyriglena leucoptera 最受森林覆盖和红边反射率（局部尺度指标）的影响，而 S. scansor、X. fuscus、D. ochropyga、P. leucoptera、F. serrana 和 M. leachii 的面积、核心区面积和功能连接指数（景观特征）是物种出现的更强预测因子。小的森林片段充当了走廊，增加了整个群落的整体连通性。保留大、小面积，包括具有不同微生境特征的森林，是维持林下鸟类长期种群连通性的最有效手段。没有一种单一尺度的管理方法可以使所有物种受益。在热带景观中，实施多尺度保护策略对于维持森林鸟类的长期生存能力是必要的。
