Response of Bird Communities to Human-Dominated Habitats in Southern Anhui Mountainous Area, China

Given that many species are threatened by human activities, understanding wildlife responses to land use changes is crucial for effective biodiversity conservation. Quantifying species diversity from multiple dimensions provides a more comprehensive understanding of community dynamics, such as insights into functional and phylogenetic diversity, which are crucial for capturing the full complexity of bird communities. In this study, we surveyed bird communities in the Southern Anhui Mountainous Area across four seasons, including two human-dominated land use types (farmland and village) and one natural landscape (forest). Variations in the taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity across land uses and seasons were analyzed, with a focus on community assembly processes. Our results showed that, during spring and summer, human-dominated land use types supported a higher richness in all dimensions (taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic) compared to natural landscapes (H2,168 > 25, p < 0.001). However, due to the influence of migratory birds, villages exhibited the lowest taxonomic evenness (H2,168 = 8.31, p = 0.016), while natural landscapes had a lower phylogenetic evenness (H2,168 = 31.27, p < 0.001). In autumn and winter, no significant differences in richness or evenness were observed between land uses (H2,42 < 5.72, p > 0.05). Functional traits were not fully phylogenetically conserved, as phylogenetic structures tended to cluster, while functional structures were more random. Larger birds were more likely to inhabit human-dominated land use types, while smaller birds favored natural landscapes (H2,168 = 23.06, p < 0.001). These findings suggest that conservation plans should consider human-dominated land use types with an intermediate disturbance, which play crucial roles in maintaining bird diversity. However, natural landscapes harbor species that are absent from human-dominated environments and therefore also require continued protection.