Identifying the factors that determine the severity and type of alien bird impacts
Date
2018
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley
Abstract
Aim: To identify traits related to the severity and type of environmental impacts generated
by alien bird species, in order to improve our ability to predict which species
may have the most damaging impacts.
Location: Global.
Methods: Information on traits hypothesized to influence the severity and type of
alien bird impacts was collated for 113 bird species. These data were analysed using
mixed effects models accounting for phylogenetic non-independence
of species.
Results: The severity and type of impacts generated by alien bird species are not randomly
distributed with respect to their traits. Alien range size and habitat breadth
were strongly associated with impact severity. Predation impacts were strongly associated
with dietary preference, but also with alien range size, relative brain size and
residence time. Impacts mediated by interactions with other alien species were related
to alien range size and diet breadth.
Main conclusions: Widely distributed generalist alien birds have the most severe environmental
impacts. This may be because these species have greater opportunity to
cause environmental impacts through their sheer number and ubiquity, but this could
also be because they are more likely to be identified and studied. Our study found little
evidence for an effect of per capita impact on impact severity.
Description
CITATION: Evans, T., et al. 2018. Identifying the factors that determine the severity and type of alien bird impacts. Diversity and Distributions, 24(6):800-810, doi:10.1111/ddi.12721.
The original publication is available at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com
The original publication is available at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Keywords
Birds, Alien birds, Introduced organisms -- Effect of habitat modification on, Introduced birds -- Effect of predation on, Biological invasions
Citation
Evans, T., et al. 2018. Identifying the factors that determine the severity and type of alien bird impacts. Diversity and Distributions, 24(6):800–810, doi:10.1111/ddi.12721