Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-2012

Comments

Initially published in American Naturalist, 2012, p.777-90.

© 2012 by The University of Chicago

DOI: 10.1086/668012

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/668012 or an excerpt is available from the publisher on page 5 of this linked document: http://press.uchicago.edu/dms/ucp/journals/PressReleaseImages/American_Naturalist_December_2012.pdf

Abstract

Competition theory predicts that local communities should consist of species that are more dissimilar than expected by chance. We find a strikingly different pattern in a multicontinent data set (55 presence-absence matrices from 24 locations) on the composition of mixed-species bird flocks, which are important sub-units of local bird communities the world over. By using null models and randomization tests followed by meta-analysis, we find the association strengths of species in flocks to be strongly related to similarity in body size and foraging behavior and higher for congeneric compared with noncongeneric species pairs. Given the local spatial scales of our individual analyses, differences in the habitat preferences of species are unlikely to have caused these association patterns; the patterns observed are most likely the outcome of species interactions. Extending group-living and social-information-use theory to a heterospecific context, we discuss potential behavioral mechanisms that lead to positive interactions among similar species in flocks, as well as ways in which competition costs are reduced. Our findings highlight the need to consider positive interactions along with competition when seeking to explain community assembly.

1

Download

Share

COinS
 

The views expressed in this paper are solely those of the author.