Abstract
Mountain regions harbour dynamic ecosystems that have been historically shaped by interactions between natural abiotic processes and human activities, but nowadays they are threatened by climate change. Avalanches are one of the main sources of natural disturbance in mountain areas, creating habitat mosaics with a high vegetation heterogeneity that can be exploited by a suite of animal species. Since snow precipitation regimes in mountain regions will be altered by climate change, it is fundamental to study the interactions between avalanches and biodiversity. We carried out surveys on 240 points across horizontal and vertical transects in the Western Italian Alps to assess the differences in habitat, bird assemblage composition and ecological traits between avalanche tracks and control points. Differences in both habitat and bird assemblages were more pronounced at lower elevations and became less obvious towards alpine grasslands. Avalanche tracks were characterised by a higher structural vegetation diversity with a greater cover of rocks, shrubs and a higher number of small trees. Bird assemblages differed between avalanche tracks and adjacent control points, with the former being more diverse and characterised by a higher proportion of species typical of open habitats and migrants. Importantly, the avalanche track bird assemblage differed from both forest and treeline ecotone assemblages, showing that these heterogeneous areas are unique, harbouring a mixture of bird species from different habitats. Avalanche frequency may be affected by climate change in the future, with consequences for mountain biodiversity at a broader scale, and hence should be a priority for alpine ecological research.
Zusammenfassung
Lawinenabgänge in den europäischen Alpen schaffen einzigartige Lebensräume für Vögel.
Gebirgsregionen beherbergen dynamische Ökosysteme, die historisch durch die Wechselwirkungen zwischen natürlichen abiotischen Prozessen und menschlichen Aktivitäten geprägt wurden, heute aber vom Klimawandel bedroht sind. Lawinenabgänge sind eine der Hauptursachen für natürliche Beeinträchtigungen in Gebirgsregionen und schaffen Lebensraummosaike mit einer hohen Pflanzenvielfalt, die von einer Reihe von Tierarten genutzt werden können. Da sich die Schneefallverhältnisse in den Gebirgsregionen durch den Klimawandel verändern werden, ist es von grundlegender Bedeutung, die Wechselwirkungen zwischen Lawinen und Artenvielfalt zu untersuchen. In den westlichen italienischen Alpen machten wir an 240 Messpunkten entlang von horizontalen und vertikalen Streifen Untersuchungen, um Unterschiede in den Lebensräumen, der Zusammensetzung der Vogelgemeinschaften und den ökologischen Merkmalen zwischen den Bahnen der Lawinenabgänge und den Kontrollpunkten zu ermitteln. Die Unterschiede sowohl bei den Lebensräumen als auch den Vogelgemeinschaften waren in niedrigeren Lagen stärker ausgeprägt und wurden in Richtung der alpinen Bergwiesen weniger deutlich. Die Bahnen der Lawinenabgänge zeichneten sich durch eine höhere Artenvielfalt der Vegetation und stärkerer Bedeckung der Felsen und Sträucher und durch eine höhere Anzahl kleiner Bäume aus. Die Zusammensetzung der Vogelgemeinschaften war auf den Lawinenbahnen und angrenzenden Kontrollpunkten unterschiedlich, wobei erstere vielfältiger waren und einen höheren Anteil an für offene Lebensräume und Zugvögel typische Arten aufwiesen. Wichtig ist, dass sich die Vogelgemeinschaften der Lawinenschneisen sowohl von denen des Waldes als auch von denen der Baumgrenze unterscheiden, was zeigt, dass diese heterogenen Areale einzigartig sind und eine Mischung von Vogelarten aus verschiedenen Lebensräumen beherbergen. Die Häufigkeit von Lawinenabgängen könnte in Zukunft durch den Klimawandel beeinflusst werden, was sich auf breiter Ebene auf die biologische Vielfalt in den Bergen auswirken könnte und daher eine der Hauptaufgaben der alpinen ökologischen Forschung sein sollte.
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Data availability
The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the staff of Ente di Gestione delle Aree Protette delle Alpi Cozie for the support. We are also grateful to Pietro Bolognino, Margherita Penna, Andrés Carrasco and Veronica Dutto for helping with fieldwork.
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RA and DC initiated the study. RA and LO collected the data. RA and DC conceptualised the manuscript. RA analysed the data with inputs from LO and DC. RA wrote the manuscript with inputs from DC.
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Alba, R., Oddi, L., Rosselli, D. et al. Avalanches create unique habitats for birds in the European Alps. J Ornithol 164, 377–388 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-022-02039-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-022-02039-3