Elevational patterns of bird species richness on the eastern slope of Mt. Gongga, Sichuan Province, China

作者：Xingcheng He, Xiaoyi Wang, Shane G. DuBay, Andrew Hart Reeve, Per Alström, Jianghong Ran, Qiao Liu, Yongjie Wu · 发表于：Avian Research · 年份：2019 · DOI：10.1186/s40657-018-0140-7 · 被引用次数：39 · 研究领域：Species Distribution and Climate Change、Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

In biological systems, biological diversity often displays a rapid turn-over across elevations. This defining feature has made mountains classic systems for studying the spatial variation in diversity. Because patterns of elevational diversity can vary among lineages and mountain systems it remains difficult to extrapolate findings from one montane region to another, or among lineages. In this study, we assessed patterns and drivers of avian diversity along an elevational gradient on the eastern slope of Mt. Gongga, the highest peak in the Hengduan Mountain Range in central China, and a mountain where comprehensive studies of avian diversity are still lacking. We surveyed bird species in eight 400-m elevational bands from 1200 to 4400 m a.s.l. between 2012 and 2017. To test the relationship between bird species richness and environmental factors, we examined the relative importance of seven ecological variables on breeding season distribution patterns: land area (LA), mean daily temperature (MDT), seasonal temperature range (STR), the mid-domain effect (MDE), seasonal precipitation (SP), invertebrate biomass (IB) and enhanced vegetation index (EVI). Climate data were obtained from five local meteorological stations and three temperature/relative humidity smart sensors in 2016. A total of 219 bird species were recorded in the field, of which 204 were recorded during the breeding season (April–August). Species richness curves (calculated separately for total species, large-rang...