Climate change is affecting the distribution of species, sometimes making previously separated species come into secondary contact. For closely related species, this often leads to competition and sometimes also hybridization, which can have negative effects on genetic bio? diversity. Collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis) and pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) are two closely related species that hybridize where they meet on the Swedish islands Gotland and Öland. Studies from Gotland and the north of Öland have shown that the pied flycatcher is outcompeted and displaced from favourable, high-quality habitat by the collared flycatcher, leading to a decrease in the number of pied flycatchers in deciduous forest. However, this has not been shown for the ecologically important and one of the largest deciduous forests in Sweden, the Mittland forest located in central Öland. Here I use census data collected during two periods separated by 37 years from the Mittland forest to investigate habitat choice and competition between the two species. Although the number of collared flycatcher has greatly increased in the area, I show that the collared flycatcher has not outcompeted the pied flycatcher from favourable habitat. I also show that pied flycatcher does not have a preference for coniferous forest. Lastly, I show that the two species have a near complete overlap of habitat niches. These results indicate that they are in direct competition over the favourable habitat, that there is no equilibrium between the species and the collared flycatcher might still be expanding in the Mittland forest. Allowing more time to pass and further research will show if the pied flycatcher will be displaced from the high-quality habitats in this area or not.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-130451 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Blad, Elias |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för biologi och miljö (BOM) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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