INTRODUCTION The Himalayas includes the world’s highest peak,Mount Everest(8848 m),and the altitude gradient of the southern slope of the mountain range changes rapidly,from Mount Everest to 100 km south,with the hab...INTRODUCTION The Himalayas includes the world’s highest peak,Mount Everest(8848 m),and the altitude gradient of the southern slope of the mountain range changes rapidly,from Mount Everest to 100 km south,with the habitat shifting from glaciers to tropical rain forests at altitudes below 1000 m.This area is a global hotspot for bird distribution(Orme et al.2005),and the area is home to one of the highest concentrations of threatened birds in Asia.(Acharya&Vijayan 2010).Bird diversity research in this area has revealed that the eastern Himalaya mountain range,south slopes,and mid-lower altitude areas have higher levels of bird diversity than the western Himalaya mountain range,north slopes,and high-altitude areas,respectively(Acharya et al.2010,2011;Price et al.2011;Wang et al.2013;Romanov et al.2016).In addition,the adaptability of birds to high-altitude areas,such as the enhancement of the oxygen transport capacity of the Barheaded Goose(Meir&Milsom 2013)and changes in the flight characteristics of vultures(Sherub et al.2016)have also been investigated.However,most of these studies were carried out at altitudes below 5000 m.For the mountain range with the highest peak,at 8848 m,there are very few studies on the birds in large areas above the snow line,and bird data at very high altitudes mainly come from the sporadic records of early climbers(Swan 1961,1970).展开更多
Urbanization effects on living organisms are spatially heterogeneous.Here we quantified the abundance of birds per tree in forested urban and rural habitats for 85,829 trees mainly in China and Europe.A population mod...Urbanization effects on living organisms are spatially heterogeneous.Here we quantified the abundance of birds per tree in forested urban and rural habitats for 85,829 trees mainly in China and Europe.A population model was based on the assumption that:1)birds have a normally distributed habitat preference;2)an increase in population size linked to the habitat preference;3)a population size dependent on the habitat preference;and 4)the removal of a certain fraction of individuals giving rise to extinction.We tested for large-scale differences in the impact of urbanization on the frequency distribution of the difference in abundance between urban and rural habitats in China and parts of Europe.The difference in the frequency distribution of urban population density of birds in trees minus rural population density of birds in trees in China and Europe was statistically significant suggesting that the abundance of birds differed between trees in urban and rural habitats,but more so in China than in Europe.We hypothesize that more pronounced differences in China than in Europe may have arisen due to the Four Pests Campaign in 1958-1962 that resulted in death of hundreds of millions of birds(mainly tree sparrows Passer monfanus,but also numerous other less common species that were starting to become urbanized around 1960).Species that were less common in 1960 could not sustain reductions in population size in urban areas and hence these species are still rare or absent in urban areas today 60 years later.展开更多
基金supported by GDAS Special Project of Science and Technology Development(2018GDASCX-1003)Kunming Construction Real Estate Development Co.,Ltd.
文摘INTRODUCTION The Himalayas includes the world’s highest peak,Mount Everest(8848 m),and the altitude gradient of the southern slope of the mountain range changes rapidly,from Mount Everest to 100 km south,with the habitat shifting from glaciers to tropical rain forests at altitudes below 1000 m.This area is a global hotspot for bird distribution(Orme et al.2005),and the area is home to one of the highest concentrations of threatened birds in Asia.(Acharya&Vijayan 2010).Bird diversity research in this area has revealed that the eastern Himalaya mountain range,south slopes,and mid-lower altitude areas have higher levels of bird diversity than the western Himalaya mountain range,north slopes,and high-altitude areas,respectively(Acharya et al.2010,2011;Price et al.2011;Wang et al.2013;Romanov et al.2016).In addition,the adaptability of birds to high-altitude areas,such as the enhancement of the oxygen transport capacity of the Barheaded Goose(Meir&Milsom 2013)and changes in the flight characteristics of vultures(Sherub et al.2016)have also been investigated.However,most of these studies were carried out at altitudes below 5000 m.For the mountain range with the highest peak,at 8848 m,there are very few studies on the birds in large areas above the snow line,and bird data at very high altitudes mainly come from the sporadic records of early climbers(Swan 1961,1970).
基金This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos 31472013 and 31772453 to W.L.)GDAS Special Project of Science and Technology Development(Nos 2017 GDASCX-0107,2018 GDASCX-0107)to F.S.Z.
文摘Urbanization effects on living organisms are spatially heterogeneous.Here we quantified the abundance of birds per tree in forested urban and rural habitats for 85,829 trees mainly in China and Europe.A population model was based on the assumption that:1)birds have a normally distributed habitat preference;2)an increase in population size linked to the habitat preference;3)a population size dependent on the habitat preference;and 4)the removal of a certain fraction of individuals giving rise to extinction.We tested for large-scale differences in the impact of urbanization on the frequency distribution of the difference in abundance between urban and rural habitats in China and parts of Europe.The difference in the frequency distribution of urban population density of birds in trees minus rural population density of birds in trees in China and Europe was statistically significant suggesting that the abundance of birds differed between trees in urban and rural habitats,but more so in China than in Europe.We hypothesize that more pronounced differences in China than in Europe may have arisen due to the Four Pests Campaign in 1958-1962 that resulted in death of hundreds of millions of birds(mainly tree sparrows Passer monfanus,but also numerous other less common species that were starting to become urbanized around 1960).Species that were less common in 1960 could not sustain reductions in population size in urban areas and hence these species are still rare or absent in urban areas today 60 years later.
