PARENT SESSION
Oral Session #24: Conservation and Biodiversity: Birds and arthropods.
Presiding: C. Bock
Monday, August 5. 1:00 PM to 3:45 PM. Mesquite Room, Radisson.

Does disturbance affect beta diversity? Neotropical bird responses to forest disturbance at two spatial scales.

Dunn, Robert^*,1, ¹ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT

ABSTRACT- Beta diversity couples alpha and gamma diversity across space. Disturbance that affects alpha or local diversity may also affect beta and consequently gamma diversity, but this has gone unstudied. I examine whether the beta diversity of Amazonian birds is different in mature forests and secondary forests. I also examine the potential causes for these differences and test whether the species-level traits correlated with mature forest specialization are the same at local and regional scales. The beta diversity of Amazonian birds was greater in secondary forests than mature forests. This difference was not due to smaller range sizes of birds in secondary forest species, but was instead related to the greater heterogeneity among secondary forests. The bird traits associated with mature forest specialization were different at local and regional scales. These results indicate that conservation priorities set based on local risk assessments may not protect species at risk at larger scales.

KEY WORDS: Disturbance, Beta Diversity, Birds, Secondary Forest