A long-term macroecological analysis of the recovery of a waterbird metacommunity after site protection.

ABSTRACT: We used the so called "land-bridge island" or "nested-subsets" theory to test the resilience of a highly fragmented and perturbated waterbird metacommunity, after legal protection of 18 wetlands in the western Mediterranean. Sites were monitored during 28 years and two seasons per year. The metacommunity was composed by 44 species during breeding and 67 species during wintering, including shorebirds, ducks, herons, gulls and divers (Podicipedidae). We identified a strong nested pattern. Consistent with the fact that the study system was to a large extent a spatial biogeographical continuous for thousands of years, fragmented only during the last centuries due to human activities. Non-random selective extinction was the most likely historical process creating the nested pattern, operated by

SUBMITTER: Pagel J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4136829 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature