Assessing the relative importance of isolated Ficus trees to insectivorous birds in an Indian human-modified tropical landscape

摘要: The destruction of forest for agricultural expansion has created a vast estate human-modified land in tropical regions. One group organisms that are particularly vulnerable to the loss habitat insectivorous birds. Despite this, few conservation strategies have been identified this landscapes. We survey use 104 isolated trees by birds rural Assam, India. used an information theoretic model comparison approach determine important variables driving bird diversity within these trees. Our work demonstrates large landscapes may play role maintaining and ecological function beyond edge. More specifically, we found Ficus hold assemblages with high insectivore abundance, richness functional when compared other fruit argue that, where present, should be actively conserved maintain composition communities “Ficus first” strategy.