PARENT SESSION
Poster Session #28: Animal Ecology.
Wednesday, August 8, 2001. Presentation from 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM. Exhibition Hall
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Spatial patterns of bird species richness in East Asia .
DING, TZUNG-SU1, 1
ABSTRACT- Latitudinal diversity gradients have been studied well in America and Africa, but rarely in Asia. This research studies the latitudinal diversity gradient in East Asia and its possible underlying processes. A map of bird species richness in East Asia is obtained by developing and overlaying the distribution ranges of 2406 terrestrial bird species that breed in East Asia (Asia east of 70°E longitude, including Wallacia region). Bird species richness is highest between 20°N and 30°N latitude. Bird species richness of islands is significantly lower than adjacent areas of mainland Asia and is significantly correlated with net annual primary productivity (NAPP), island area, and, inversely with, distance to mainland. Species richness in mainland Asia is significantly correlated with NAPP, human population density, and habitat heterogeneity. The typical latitudinal gradients of species richness in America and Africa are not observed in East Asia, where lacks tropical mainland and has a shifted productivity gradient.
KEY WORDS: Species richness, Asia, island biogeography, latitudinal gradients