The Response of Avian Feeding Guilds to Tropical Forest Disturbance

Anthropogenic habitat disturbance is a major threat to tropical forests and understanding the ecological consequences of this disturbance is crucial for the conservation of biodiversity. There have been many attempts to determine the ecological traits associated with bird species' vulnerability to disturbance, but no attempt has been made to synthesize these studies to show consensus. We analyzed data from 57 published studies (covering 1214 bird species) that investigated the response of tropical bird assemblages to moderate forest disturbance (e.g., selective logging). Our results show that the mean abundance of species from six commonly reported feeding guilds responded differently to disturbance and that species' ecological traits (body size, local population size, and geographic range size) and evolutionary relationships may influence responses in some guilds. Granivore abundance increased significantly and insectivore and frugivore abundance decreased significantly following disturbance. These general conclusions were robust to the effects of ecological traits and phylogeny. Responses of carnivores, nectarivores, and omnivores were less clear, but analyses that accounted for phylogeny indicated that these guilds declined following disturbance. In contrast to the other guilds, the reported responses of carnivores and nectarivores differed among regions (Asia vs. Neotropics) and were influenced by the sampling protocols used in different studies (e.g., time since disturbance), which may explain the difficulty in detecting general responses to disturbance in these guilds. Overall, general patterns governed the responses of species to habitat disturbance, and the differential responses of guilds suggested that disturbance affects trophic organization and thus ecosystem functioning.