Avian species richness elevational patterns in mountain peatlands

Abstract

Avian research and elevation gradients have been studied extensively in the last century but there is a lack of understanding of the patterns and underlying mechanisms that drive avian species richness in mountain peatlands. This project examined the richness-elevation pattern and possible underlying mechanisms driving this pattern and the accuracy of avian species richness observed when collecting richness estimates from ARUs. Avian species richness was recorded using ARUs at 24 mountain peatland sites in the Upper Bow Basin for one hour during the dawn chorus on four days spread out between May 22nd and June 12th during the breeding season. Avian species richness in mountain peatlands displayed a plateauing pattern, cubic model, much like the plateauing patterns described by McCain in 2009 and it was determined that this pattern was a result of the effect of area on richness and the effect of Natural Subregion, a proxy variable for climate, temperature, soil and vegetation community, on richness. Also, the methods chosen to survey avian species richness provided accurate estimates of avian species richness but to get accurate estimates each survey required a larger survey effort than suggested by the literature.