Community assembly, functional traits, and phylogeny in Himalayan river birds.

ABSTRACT: Heterogeneity in riverine habitats acts as a template for species evolution that influences river communities at different spatio-temporal scales. Although birds are conspicuous elements of these communities, the roles of phylogeny, functional traits, and habitat character in their niche use or species' assembly have seldom been investigated. We explored these themes by surveying multiple headwaters over 3000 m of elevation in the Himalayan Mountains of India where the specialist birds of montane rivers reach their greatest diversity on Earth. After ordinating community composition, species traits, and habitat character, we investigated whether river bird traits varied with elevation in ways that were constrained or independent of phylogeny, hypothesizing that trait patterns reflect enviro

SUBMITTER: Sinha A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9204853 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature