Taxonomic nestedness based on guilds? Bird assemblages of the Jardines de la Reina National Park, Cuba, as study case

Taxonomic nestedness based on guilds? Bird assemblages of the Jardines de la Reina National Park, Cuba, as study case

Nestedness is a widely known structuring model in insular and fragmented biotas that has often been assessed, but most studies to date have used a taxonomic approach. However, the relevance of an approach using functional groups has become increasingly highlighted in community ecology research. In t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Animal biodiversity and conservation Vol. 43; no. 1; pp. 43 - 54
Main Authors: García–Quintas, A., Fundora Caballero, D., Parada Isada, A.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Barcelona Museu de Ciencies Naturals 01-01-2020
Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona
Subjects:
Avifauna
Birds
Ecological research
Functional grouping
Functional groups
Guilds
Insectivores
Insects
Low–lying islands
National parks
Nested community
Null model
Protected area
Structure-function relationships
Taxonomy
Terrestrial environments
Trophic guild
Cuba
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Summary:Nestedness is a widely known structuring model in insular and fragmented biotas that has often been assessed, but most studies to date have used a taxonomic approach. However, the relevance of an approach using functional groups has become increasingly highlighted in community ecology research. In this study, we evaluated the occurrence of nested structure in the Jardines de la Reina National Park bird assemblages as a whole, and its trophic guilds by following three different grouping criteria. We constructed species presence–absence matrices for each guild and estimated the degree of nestedness with the metric based on the overlap and decreasing fill, assessing its significance by means of two null models. Overall bird assemblage was significantly nested (NODF = 76.99; p = 0.01) whereas terrestrial insectivores (NODF = 81.32) and insectivores (NODF = 80.04) were the only trophic guilds (out of 19) that showed significant nestedness (p ≤ 0.01). These results could provide evidence of the structural and functional cohesion of avifauna at the study site, especially among its insect–eating taxa. Taxonomic nestedness based on a guilds approach may help identify suitable conservation strategies for avian communities inhabiting naturally fragmented areas such as the Jardines de la Reina National Park.
ISSN:1578-665X
2014-928X
DOI:10.32800/abc.2020.43.0043