Forest plant and bird communities in the Lau Group, Fiji.

ABSTRACT:

Background

We examined species composition of forest and bird communities in relation to environmental and human disturbance gradients on Lakeba (55.9 km²), Nayau (18.4 km²), and Aiwa Levu (1.2 km²), islands in the Lau Group of Fiji, West Polynesia. The unique avifauna of West Polynesia (Fiji, Tonga, Samoa) has been subjected to prehistoric human-caused extinctions but little was previously known about this topic in the Lau Group. We expected that the degree of human disturbance would be a strong determinant of tree species composition and habitat quality for surviving landbirds, while island area would be unrelated to bird diversity.

Methodology/principal findings

All trees > 5 cm diameter were measured and identified in 23 forest plots of 500 m² each. We recognized four fo

SUBMITTER: Franklin J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3012085 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature