Applying a regional community concept to forest birds of eastern North America.

ABSTRACT: The regional community concept embraces the idea that species interactions across large areas shape both the geographic/ecological distributions and the local abundances of populations. Within this framework, I analyzed the distribution and abundance of 79 species of land birds across 142 ca. 10-ha census plots from standardized breeding bird censuses in deciduous and mixed forests of eastern North America. To characterize the regional ecological space, plots were ordinated on the basis of species abundances. Within the regional community defined by these synthetic axes, the distribution and abundance of individual species did not appear to be shaped by competition or to reflect the adaptations of individuals: (i) local abundance and population extent across the ordination axes were unrela

SUBMITTER: Ricklefs RE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3038754 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature