Bird Community Index using life history guilds of breeding birds in Taiwan

Abstract

As humans continue to expand our range, biodiversity is suffering. In order to preserve biodiversity, it becomes necessary to set aside land for preservation. In Taiwan, there is currently a corridor of preserved landscapes that are restricted to the mountainous regions. What about the other landscapes? The Bird Community Index (BCI) uses birds as ecological indicators in order to determine the ability of a landscape to support sensitive native species. Using data from the 2012 Breeding Bird Survey, I compiled a list of all of the breeding birds in Taiwan and their compositional, functional and structural life history traits. Those traits resulted in 12 response guilds and a BCI that can be used in future research to determine the ability of various landscapes to support specialist and native species of Taiwan. This information can then be used for future conservation decisions.