Field Studies about Countryside Biogeography
We are presently pursuing a series of field studies, primarily in Costa Rica, to document the response of various groups of organisms (including birds, mammals, and a variety of insect taxa) to different types and levels of agricultural activity. The various field studies will illuminate, we hope, how well these measures of intensity predict patterns of biodiversity. We are also synthesizing information in the literature on the habitat associations of species. The findings from these initial undertakings together serve as a basis for theoretical explorations that will, we hope, permit prediction of patterns of biodiversity generally, in other regions of the world and under various scenarios of change in land use.
- Margie Mayfield is currently studying herbaceous plant diversity in countryside habitats of Costa Rica. Her work focuses on which native herbaceous plant species survive in pastures and along roadsides of southern Costa Rica. Along with gaining a better understanding of the plant diversity supported by tropical countryside habitats, Margie is also identifying the types of resources available from surviving forest plant diversity to insect, bird and mammals existing in the same countryside habitats.
- Jai Ranganathan is studying community assembly rules within heavily disturbed habitats, particularly avian assemblages within fragmented tropical forests.
- Cagan Sekercioglu is studying the relationship between land-use and bird diversity.
- Sallie-Ann Bailey uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools to explore spatially-explicit models of diversity in relation to land use.
- Gary Luck studied the capacity of tropical agricultural landscapes to support avian frugivores.
- Taylor Ricketts has studied the role of the matrix, or intervening habitat between fragments, on butterfly dispersal in Colorado. Previous theories of diversity under habitat fragmentation have viewed the matrix as a constant sea of bad habitat; Ricketts' work shows that not only is this view false, different species respond differently (and predictably) to different matrix habitat types. Thus, by including consideration of the habitat types occurring in recently fragmented landscapes in our land management decisions, we may be able to effectively reconnect fragmented populations. This could be crucial to, for example, maintaining natural pollination and pest control services in an increasingly food-short world. For more information, see Ricketts, T.H., Daily, G.C., and Ehrlich, P.R., Countryside biogeography of moths in a fragmented landscape: species diversity in the agricultural matrix.
Participants
- Sallie Anne Bailey
- Gretchen Daily
- Paul Ehrlich
- Gary Luck
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- Margy Mayfield
- Jai Ranganathan
- Taylor Ricketts
- Cagan Sekercioglu
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Selected Publications
Pereira, H., and G. Daily. In review. Population persistence in fragmented countryside: an alternative to source-sink dynamics.
Mayfield, M., and G. Daily. In review. Countryside biogeography of Neotropical herbaceous and shrubby plants.
Brosi, B. J., G. Daily, and F. Davis. 2004. The conservation value of human-dominated countryside. Pages xx-xx in D. G. F. Davis, G. Heal, and M. Scott, ed. The Endangered Species Act at Thirty: Lessons and Prospects.
Luck, G., and G. Daily. 2003. Bird assemblages in a tropical countryside: richness, composition, and foraging behavior differ with landscape context. Ecological Applications 13: 235-247.
Horner-Devine, M. C., G. C. Daily, P. R. Ehrlich, and C. L. Boggs. 2003. Countryside biogeography of tropical butterflies. Conservation Biology 17: 168-177.
Daily, G., G. Ceballos, J. Pacheco, G. Suzán, and A. Sánchez-Azofeifa. 2003. Countryside biogeography of neotropical mammals: Unusual persistence of species in agricultural landscapes of Costa Rica. Conservation Biology 17: 1814-1826.
Hughes, J. B., G. C. Daily, and P. R. Ehrlich. 2002. Conservation of tropical forest birds in countryside habitats. Ecology Letters 2002: 121-129.
Hughes, J., G. Daily, and P. Ehrlich. 2002. Agricultural policy can help preserve tropical forest birds in countryside habitats. Ecology Letters 5: 121-129.
Goehring, D., G. Daily, and C. Sekercioglu. 2002. Distribution of ground-dwelling arthropods in tropical countryside habitats. Journal of Insect Conservation 6: 83-91.
Ricketts, T. H., G. C. Daily, P. R. Ehrlich, and J. P. Fay. 2001. Countryside biogeography of moths in a fragmented landscape: biodiversity in native and agricultural habitats. Conservation Biology 15: 378-388.
Daily, G. C., P. R. Ehrlich, and G. A. Sanchez-Azofeifa. 2001. Countryside biogeography: use of human-dominated habitats by the avifauna of southern Costa Rica. Ecological Applications 11: 1-13.
Daily, G. C. 2000. Countryside biogeography and the provision of ecosystem services. Nature and Human Society: The Quest for a Sustainable World. National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C.
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