Trait-independent habitat associations explain low co-occurrence in native and exotic birds on a tropical volcanic island.

On oceanic islands, strong human impacts on habitats, combined with introductions of exotic species, modify the composition of terrestrial bird assemblages and threaten their ecological functions. In La Réunion, an oceanic island located in the Madagascan region, a national park was established in 2007 to counter the ecosystem-level effects of three centuries of habitat conversion, native species destruction and exotic species introductions. Here, we investigated how bird assemblages were structured in these human-modified landscapes, 10 years before the national park set out its first conservation measures.