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Correia, Ricardo A., Franco, Aldina M. A. 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6055-7378 and Palmeirim, Jorge M.
(2015)
Role of the Mediterranean Sea differentiating European and North African woodland bird assemblages.
Community Ecology, 16 (1).
pp. 106-114.
ISSN 1588-2756
Abstract
The Mediterranean Sea has separated the sclerophyllous forests of southern Europe and northern Africa for millions of years, but its role structuring forest bird assemblages remains unclear. To address this issue we sampled bird assemblages in cork oak woodlands located north and south of the Strait of Gibraltar and compared abundance, diversity, and species and guild assemblage structure between regions. Abundance and diversity patterns were remarkably similar, but dissimilarity analyses of species and guild composition revealed differences in bird assemblage structure between regions. Differences are partly attributable to the effect of the Mediterranean as barrier to the dispersal of forest birds; a few species were unable to colonize North Africa, and many that colonized it remained in sufficient isolation to evolve into distinct taxa. In addition to this divergence of biogeographic genesis, assemblages also differ because in North African cork oaks woodlands forest and insectivorous specialist species are less abundant. This dissimilarity could be due to the effect of different exploitation levels present in each region. Managed cork oak woodlands are widespread in the Western Mediterranean, and are valuable because they conciliate economic exploitation with high biodiversity. In North Africa these woodlands are of greater conservation concern because they harbour endemic bird species that give its assemblage a distinct character, cover a smaller area, and are currently under greater pressure from overexploitation. These results highlight the importance to implement management practices that increase resilience and maintain biodiversity value throughout the range of cork oak woodlands.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | geographic barrier,cork oak,quercus suber,biodiversity conservation,management,guild |
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA |
| UEA Research Groups: | Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Environmental Biology Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Resources, Sustainability and Governance (former - to 2018) |
| Depositing User: | Pure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 24 Jul 2015 20:37 |
| Last Modified: | 20 Mar 2023 08:31 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/53511 |
| DOI: | 10.1556/168.2015.16.1.12 |
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