Combining citizen science data and literature to build a traits dataset of Taiwan's birds.

Trait-based methodologies are gaining traction in the field of ecology, providing deeper insights into ecosystem structure and functions. To this end, trait databases tailored to specific taxonomic groups have become foundational. In Taiwan, the collaborative efforts of avian researchers and dedicated citizen scientists have led to the compilation of a vast array of data.

Comparing avian species richness estimates from structured and semi-structured citizen science data.

Citizen science, including structured and semi-structured forms, has become a powerful tool to collect biodiversity data. However, semi-structured citizen science data have been criticized for higher variability in quality, including less information to adjust for imperfect detection and uneven duration that bias the estimates of species richness. Species richness estimators may quantify bias in estimates.

Environment is associated with chytrid infection and skin microbiome richness on an amphibian rich island (Taiwan).

Growing evidence suggests that the origins of the panzootic amphibian pathogens Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) and Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) are in Asia. In Taiwan, an island hotspot of high amphibian diversity, no amphibian mass mortality events linked to Bd or Bsal have been reported. We conducted a multi-year study across this subtropical island, sampling 2517 individuals from 30 species at 34 field sites, between 2010 and 2017, and including 171 museum samples collected between 1981 and 2009.

The formation of "mega-flocks" depends on vegetation structure in montane coniferous forests of Taiwan.

A mixed-species bird flock is a social assemblage where two or more bird species are moving together while foraging and might benefit from increased foraging efficiency and antipredator vigilance. A "mega-flock," which includes flocking species from different vegetation strata, often exhibits high species diversity. Mechanisms for the formation of mega-flocks have not yet been explored.

A GIS-based policy support tool to determine national responsibilities and priorities for biodiversity conservation.

Efficient biodiversity conservation requires that limited resources be allocated in accordance with national responsibilities and priorities. Without appropriate computational tools, the process of determining these national responsibilities and conservation priorities is time intensive when considering many species across geographic scales. Here, we have developed a computational tool as a module for the ArcGIS geographic information system.

Redescription of a wall crab spider species from Taiwan: Siamspinops formosensis (Kayashima, 1943) comb. nov., with the first description of males and taxonomic notes (Araneae: Selenopidae).

The wall crab spider Selenops formosensis Kayashima, 1943 was described from three females collected from northern Taiwan (Kayashima 1943a), but subsequently referred to as S. formosanus and S. formosansis in an illustrated handbook on Taiwanese spiders written by the same author (Kayashima 1943b).

Individual species-area relationship of woody plant communities in a heterogeneous subtropical monsoon rainforest.

The spatial structure of species richness is often characterized by the species-area relationship (SAR). However, the SAR approach rarely considers the spatial variability of individual plants that arises from species interactions and species' habitat associations. Here, we explored how the interactions of individual plants of target species influence SAR patterns at a range of neighborhood distances.

The soil microbial community predicts the importance of plant traits in plant-soil feedback.

Reciprocal interaction between plant and soil (plant-soil feedback, PSF) can determine plant community structure. Understanding which traits control interspecific variation of PSF strength is crucial for plant ecology. Studies have highlighted either plant-mediated nutrient cycling (litter-mediated PSF) or plant-microbe interaction (microbial-mediated PSF) as important PSF mechanisms, each attributing PSF variation to different traits.

Bird species migration ratio in East Asia, Australia, and surrounding islands.

Bird migration and its relationship with the contemporary environment have attracted long-term discussion. We calculated the avian migration ratio (the proportion of breeding species that migrate) in the areas from 70°E to 180°E and examined its relationship with the annual ranges of ambient temperature, primary productivity (estimated by the Enhanced Vegetation Index), and precipitation, along with island isolation and elevational range. The avian migration ratio increased with increasing latitude in general but varied greatly between the two hemispheres.

Using stable isotopes to unravel and predict the origins of great cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis) overwintering at Kinmen.

The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and the World Organization for Animal Health have called for a better understanding of the role that migrating birds may play in spreading H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). Bird banding, traditionally used in studies of migration, is limited by low recapture rates. Telemetry can only be applied to larger species and a limited number of birds.

Spatial turnover in the global avifauna.

Despite its wide implications for many ecological issues, the global pattern of spatial turnover in the occurrence of species has been little studied, unlike the global pattern of species richness. Here, using a database on the breeding distributions of birds, we present the first global maps of variation in spatial turnover for an entire taxonomic class, a pattern that has to date remained largely a matter of conjecture, based on theoretical expectations and extrapolation of inconsistent patterns from different biogeographic realms. We use these maps to test four predictions from niche theory as to the form that this variation should take, namely that turnover should increase with species richness, towards lower latitudes, and with the steepness of environmental gradients and that variation in turnover is determined principally by rare (restricted) species.

Topography, energy and the global distribution of bird species richness.

A major goal of ecology is to determine the causes of the latitudinal gradient in global distribution of species richness. Current evidence points to either energy availability or habitat heterogeneity as the most likely environmental drivers in terrestrial systems, but their relative importance is controversial in the absence of analyses of global (rather than continental or regional) extent. Here we use data on the global distribution of extant continental and continental island bird species to test the explanatory power of energy availability and habitat heterogeneity while simultaneously addressing issues of spatial resolution, spatial autocorrelation, geometric constraints upon species' range dynamics, and the impact of human populations and historical glacial ice-cover.

Energy, range dynamics and global species richness patterns: reconciling mid-domain effects and environmental determinants of avian diversity.

Spatial patterns of species richness follow climatic and environmental variation, but could reflect random dynamics of species ranges (the mid-domain effect, MDE). Using data on the global distribution of birds, we compared predictions based on energy availability (actual evapotranspiration, AET, the best single correlate of avian richness) with those of range dynamics models. MDE operating within the global terrestrial area provides a poor prediction of richness variation, but if it operates separately within traditional biogeographic realms, it explains more global variation in richness than AET.

Global distribution and conservation of rare and threatened vertebrates.

Global conservation strategies commonly assume that different taxonomic groups show congruent geographical patterns of diversity, and that the distribution of extinction-prone species in one group can therefore act as a surrogate for vulnerable species in other groups when conservation decisions are being made. The validity of these assumptions remains unclear, however, because previous tests have been limited in both geographical and taxonomic extent. Here we use a database on the global distribution of 19,349 living bird, mammal and amphibian species to show that, although the distribution of overall species richness is very similar among these groups, congruence in the distribution of rare and threatened species is markedly lower.

Human impacts and the global distribution of extinction risk.

Understanding the global geographical distribution of extinction risk is a key challenge in conservation biology. It remains controversial, however, to what extent areas become threat hotspots simply because of high human impacts or due to predisposing ecological conditions. Limits to the taxonomic and geographical extent, resolution and quality of previously available data have precluded a full global assessment of the relative roles of these factors.

Global patterns of geographic range size in birds.

Large-scale patterns of spatial variation in species geographic range size are central to many fundamental questions in macroecology and conservation biology. However, the global nature of these patterns has remained contentious, since previous studies have been geographically restricted and/or based on small taxonomic groups. Here, using a database on the breeding distributions of birds, we report the first (to our knowledge) global maps of variation in species range sizes for an entire taxonomic class.

Global hotspots of species richness are not congruent with endemism or threat.

Biodiversity hotspots have a prominent role in conservation biology, but it remains controversial to what extent different types of hotspot are congruent. Previous studies were unable to provide a general answer because they used a single biodiversity index, were geographically restricted, compared areas of unequal size or did not quantitatively compare hotspot types. Here we use a new global database on the breeding distribution of all known extant bird species to test for congruence across three types of hotspot.