Despite the long time since the introduction and spread of pine plantations in southern hemisphere countries there has been no study of the suitability of this exotic and novel type of vegetation on the native avifauna. This thesis aims to add understanding of this habitat replacement and its effects on the forest bird community. This research included a series of studies to assess the quality of mature pine plantations for the forest avifauna in comparison to what is in native forests. The first two studies determine the effects on the forest bird community of the fragmentation and replacement of native forest in a gradient of substitution. The results showed a direct relationship between level of substitution and loss of functional diversity, and that fragmentation predicts the bird assemblage in pine stands. The next two studies used data from an intensive ringing season to assess differences in the condition of populations inhabiting each habitat. Birds, in general, were found in better condition in native fragments than in pine plantations. Moreover, a despotic distribution was determined for a migrant species and a gradient in habitat quality was found in relation to proximity to native forest. The next two studies used information from a nest-box survey set in a gradient of sites with substitution of native forest. The results showed that the type of forest cover and their proportion in the landscape may affect the breeding performance of some species. Finally, in the last study I evaluated the foraging niche of bird species in each habitat. Compared with native forest, niche breath reduced while the niche overlap increased in pine plantations for most species. The results suggest that pine plantations are poor quality habitat for the bird community and that the substitution of native forests increases selective pressure.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:730503 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Thomson, Roberto F. |
| Contributors | Gosler, Andrew G. |
| Publisher | University of Oxford |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:1792418e-18e9-4344-96ce-3bad2aa03500 |
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