Daniel Cardenas

Losing our wings Could you imagine hiking in the woods and not be able to see the birds fly anymore? Figure 1. Image credit Michi Lauke Well those magnificent creatures that have delighted us with their ability to fly and have enthused our dream to surf the sky, are in serious risk as we are decimated their communities around the World by our activities. But, since birds’ communities are being threatened by human activities, should that concern us or what’s the deal? Actually yes, because those feathered fellows, work as plague control in our crops, and disperse seeds such as pines seeds in forest. They are also important plants’ pollinators, since over 920 species of birds pollinate plants (Whelan et al., 2008) that’s right not only bees pollinate plants :) Figure 2. Hummingbird pollinating. Image credit Gifer (2018) Figure 3. Image credit Tumblr Staff (2018) Among other ecosystemic functions, such as scavenge carcasses, ecosystem designers and recycle nutrients back into the earth (Aubudon, 2017). What's going on? Pollution, introduced exotic species, climate change, habitat loss and habitat fragmentation are driving bird species to extinction. Overall, 21% of bird species are currently susceptible to extinction and 6.5% of them as a result of their reduced population no longer play a significant role in ecosystems (Şekercioğlu et al., 2004). Figure 4. Habitat loss and fragmentation derived from activities, such as agriculture, logging, residential and commercial development. Image credit BirdLife’s World Bird Database (2016). Habitat loss and fragmentation We are going to focus on habitat loss and fragmentation, known as the dominant threats not only for bird communities, but for all biodiversity around the globe (Morante-Filho et al., 2015). Habitat loss is defined as the complete elimination of a limited ecosystem leading to loss of beneficial functions to the environment (Dodd and Smith 2003), or as simple as the destruction of specie’s living areas, through activities such as conversion of natural areas to agricultural land and settlement, fire or extensive grazing by domestic livestock. "The equivalent of 130 Yellowstone National Parks—more than 290 million acres—of grasslands have been converted to agriculture in North America” said ABC Birds. Figure 5. Abilhoa (2017) found that urbanization in Curitiba, Brazil, have contributed to habitat loss and the declines of birds’ species. Image credit Annon (2018). Meanwhile, habitat fragmentation is a secondary effect of habitat loss, and occurs when just remaining fragments left and have destroyed the links between habitat areas and the population who survived to habitat loss are isolated and unable to interact with other species (University of California, 2018). Figure 6. Example of fragmentation in Europe, loss of core natural/semi-natural’ landscapes and spread of artificial and/or agricultural surfaces for the period-. Image credit European Environmental Agency (2007). Are habitat loss and habitat fragmentation decimating birds’ communities? Well, birds’ diversity demise is likely to be linked with a major loss of natural habitats (Galewski et al., 2016) however, some studies of bird’s communities (Herkert, 1994; Şekercioḡlu, 2002; Wu, 2009) have suggested that the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation are not being reflected as much in the loss of species number or abundance of birds, as they are affecting the species composition. What does that mean? Morante-Filho et al. (2015) suggest in their study of the habitat loss’ effects in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, that bird’s communities as a whole were not affected by habitat changes in in that region. However, it had negative effects on diversity of species that have specific type of feeding (specialist species) and positive in generalist species. Meaning, that birds’ species that are adapted to only feed on fruits, or insects, or any other specific type of food are in big trouble, but other birds that have a greater range for feeding (generalist) are not going to struggle so much. Figure 7. Hyacinth macaws eating a seed. Image credit The Pantanal (2011) Overall those studies suggest the negative impacts of habitat loss and habitat fragmentation on the structure and composition of the bird community by reducing species abundance specialists, being the protection of their habitats, the most effective way to save these stunning creatures, and all the benefits that provide to their ecosystems and to us. [582 words] References Abilhoa, V., and Amorin, R. (2017). ‘Effects of urbanization on the avian community in a southern Brazilian city’. Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia, 25, pp. 31-39. Anon, (2018). [image] Available at: https://omensageiro77.wordpress.com/2016/02/13/se-tem-eleicao-tem-invasaoisto-e-curitiba/ [Accessed 23 Feb. 2018]. Audubon. (2018). Why Do Birds Matter?. [online] Available at: http://www.audubon.org/news/why-do-birds-matter [Accessed 20 Feb. 2018]. (2017) (2017). BirdLife Data Zone. [online] Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/sowb/casestudy/a-range-of-threats-drives-declines-inbird-population [Accessed 24 Feb. 2018]. European Environment Agency (2007). Fragmentation of natural and semi-natural areas. [online] Available at: https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-andmaps/indicators/fragmentation-of-natural-and-semi-1/assessment-1 [Accessed 27 Feb. 2018]. Herkert, J. (1994). ‘The Effects of Habitat Fragmentation on Midwestern Grassland Bird Communities’. Ecological Applications, 4 (3), pp. 461-71. Galewski, T., and Devictor, V. (2016). ‘When Common Birds Became Rare: Historical Records Shed Light on Long-Term Responses of Bird Communities to Global Change in the Largest Wetland of France’. PLoS ONE, 11(11), pp. 1-18. Gifer (2018). [image] Available at: https://gifer.com/en/8pUG [Accessed 23 Feb. 2018]. Lauke, M. (2018). Seagulls in Hamburg. [image] Available at: https://michilauke.deviantart.com/art/Seagulls-in-Hamburg- [Accessed 26 Feb. 2018]. Morante-Filho, J., Faria, D., Mariano-Neto, E. and Rhodes, J. (2015). Birds in Anthropogenic Landscapes: The Responses of Ecological Groups to Forest Loss in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. PLOS ONE, 10(6), p.e-. Sekercioglu, C., Ehrlich, P., Daily, G., Aygen, D., Goehring, D. and Sandi, R. (2002). Disappearance of insectivorous birds from tropical forest fragments. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 99(1), pp.263-267. Şekercioğlu, C., Daily, G. and Ehrlich, P. (2004). Ecosystem consequences of bird declines. 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