Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Aug 31;13(9):e10439.
doi: 10.1002/ece3.10439. eCollection 2023 Sep.

Avian species functional diversity and habitat use: The role of forest structural attributes and tree diversity in the Midlands Mistbelt Forests of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Nasiphi Bitani  1 , Craig P Cordier  1 , David A Ehlers Smith  1 , Yvette C Ehlers Smith  1   2 , Colleen T Downs  1
Affiliations

Avian species functional diversity and habitat use: The role of forest structural attributes and tree diversity in the Midlands Mistbelt Forests of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Nasiphi Bitani et al. Ecol Evol. .

Abstract

Forest transformation has major impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Identifying the influence of forest habitat structure and composition on avian functional communities is important for conserving and managing forest systems. This study investigated the effect of forest structure and composition characteristics on bird species community structure, habitat use and functional diversity in 14 Mistbelt Forest patches of the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. We surveyed bird communities using point counts. We quantified bird functional diversity for each forest patch using three diversity indices: functional richness, functional evenness and functional divergence. We further assessed species-specific responses by focussing on three avian forest specialists, orange ground-thrush Geokichla gurneyi, forest canary Crithagra scotops and Cape parrot Poicephalus robustus. We found that bird community and forest-specialist species responses to forest structure and tree species diversity differed. Also, forest structural complexity, canopy cover and tree species richness were the main forest characteristics better at explaining microhabitat influence on bird functional diversity. Forest patches with relatively high structural complexity and tree species richness had higher functional richness. Different structural characteristics influenced habitat use by the three forest specialists. Tree species diversity influenced C. scotops and G. gurneyi positively, while P. robustus responded negatively to forest patches with high tree species richness. Our study showed that site-scale forest structure and composition characteristics are important for bird species richness and functional richness. Forest patches with high tree species diversity and structural complexity should be maintained to conserve forest specialists, bird species richness and functional richness.

Keywords: Mistbelt Forests; bird species community structure; forest conservation; forest structure.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

We declare no conflict of interest in connection with the work submitted.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Distribution of 14 Mistbelt forest patches of the Midlands of KwaZulu‐Natal Province, South Africa, used in this study. (Black dots represent surveyed forest patches).
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Nonmetric dimensional scaling (NMDS) of the bird species composition across 14 patches in four sites in the Midlands Mistbelt forests in South Africa (stress = 0.06; k = 2).
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Relationship between bird species richness with (a) canopy cover, (b) tree species richness during the breeding season and (c) structural complexity and (d) c tree species richness during the non‐breeding season in selected Midlands Mistbelt Forest patches (n = 14) in KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Adie, H. , Rushworth, I. , & Lawes, M. J. (2013). Pervasive, long‐lasting impact of historical logging on composition, diversity and above ground carbon stocks in Afrotemperate forest. Forest Ecology and Management, 310, 887–895.
    1. Alexander, J. , Ehlers Smith, D. A. , Ehlers Smith, Y. C. , & Downs, C. T. (2019). Drivers of fine‐scale avian functional diversity with changing land use: An assessment of the effects of eco‐estate housing development and management. Landscape Ecology, 34, 537–549. 10.1007/s10980-019-00786-y - DOI
    1. Anderson, S. H. , Shugart, H. H., Jr. , & Smith, T. M. (1979). Vertical and temporal habitat utilisation between within a breeding community. In Dickson J. G., Conner R. N., Fleet R. R., Kroll J. C., & Jackson J. A. (Eds.), The role of insectivorous birds in Forest ecosystems (pp. 261–268). Academic Press.
    1. Aquilué, N. , Filotas, É. , Craven, D. , Fortin, M. J. , Brotons, L. , & Messier, C. (2020). Evaluating forest resilience to global threats using functional response traits and network properties. Ecological Applications, 30, 1–14. 10.1002/eap.2095 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Basile, M. , Storch, I. , & Mikusiński, G. (2021). Abundance, species richness and diversity of forest bird assemblages–the relative importance of habitat structures and landscape context. Ecological Indicators, 133, 108402.