Comparing species richness, functional diversity and functional composition of waterbird communities along environmental gradients in the neotropics.

ABSTRACT: Waterbirds have a major functional role in wetlands, and understanding how functional traits of waterbirds depend on environmental characteristics can facilitate management of ecosystems and their services. We investigate how the waterbird community in a Neotropical river-floodplain system responds to environmental gradients, identifying how they affect waterbird species richness, functional diversity (measured as functional dispersion) and functional composition (specific functional traits). We sampled 22 lakes in the Upper Paraná floodplain system in southern Brazil, and modelled avian functional diversity and species richness as a function of environmental variables. Then we used a unified RLQ and fourth-corner analysis to evaluate environment-trait relationships. Waterbird species rich

SUBMITTER: Arruda Almeida B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6054399 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature