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Determinants of the diversity of plants, birds and mammals of coastal islands of the Humboldt current systems: implications for conservation

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Abstract

Sound conservation plans for islands require understanding the processes underlying to the patterns of species richness and composition. Larger islands are often the targets of conservation assuming that the island area mainly determines species richness, and that species composition is nested across islands. However, in small-island these patterns could be altered because of stochastic processes, and species assemblages could be disharmonious. In addition, human impact could further modify the distribution pattern and diversity. Here we use the case of seven islands from the coastal system of Coquimbo as a model to address the role of environmental variables and human impacts on species richness and assembly rules of plants, birds, and mammals. We hypothesize (a) the existence of a small-island effect, and the prevalence of habitat diversity and anthropogenic impacts as main drivers of species richness, and (b) the existence of disharmonious assemblages, characterized by a low degree of nestedness and random patterns of species co-occurrence. Our results showed that (a) species richness is mainly correlated with habitat diversity, and only weakly related to island area supporting the ‘small-island effect’ and (b) species composition is highly structured, but that such structure may be the result of anthropogenic activities. Nestedness was observed in plants and landbirds, while co-occurrence patterns were only detected in plants. Assemblages in small-islands departed from the nestedness pattern and maintain rare species. Currently, only three of the seven islands are protected by national regulations, excluding the smaller ones that are subjected to human disturbance and invasive mammals. Our study suggests that it necessary to include all the islands in a major protected area to preserve both richness and species composition of a number of representative islands of the Humboldt current systems. We showed that conservation plans solely based on island area might not be robust.

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Acknowledgments

The grants FONDECYT 1010250 and 1040981 to GL-J provided funds for research on islands. The research of MMR was partially funded by projects FONDECYT 11070147, 1110582, and FONDAP-FONDECYT 1501-0001. Organization of American States Academic Scholarships funded the research of CEF. We thank CONAF for providing important information. A. Simeone kindly provided his unpublished bird records for several of the studied islands. M. Thiel read and made many helpful suggestions to the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biología Marina, Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Católica del Norte & Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), Larrondo 1281, 1781421, Coquimbo, Chile

    Guillermo Luna-Jorquera

  2. Departamento de Biología Marina, Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Católica del Norte, Larrondo 1281, 1781421, Coquimbo, Chile

    Claudia E. Fernández

  3. Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA) & Departamento de Biología Marina, Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Católica del Norte, Larrondo 1281, 1781421, Coquimbo, Chile

    Marcelo M. Rivadeneira

  4. Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity (CASEB), Departamento de Ecología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Alameda 340, 6513677, Santiago, Chile

    Marcelo M. Rivadeneira

Authors
  1. Guillermo Luna-Jorquera
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  2. Claudia E. Fernández
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  3. Marcelo M. Rivadeneira
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guillermo Luna-Jorquera.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 4, 5, 6, and 7.

Table 4 Island locations, main geographical features and species richness of plants and animals found on islands of North-central Chile
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Table 5 Landbirds and seabirds found on islands of North-central Chile
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Table 6 Plant diversity found on islands of North-central Chile
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Table 7 Diversity of mammals found on islands of North-central Chile
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Luna-Jorquera, G., Fernández, C.E. & Rivadeneira, M.M. Determinants of the diversity of plants, birds and mammals of coastal islands of the Humboldt current systems: implications for conservation. Biodivers Conserv 21, 13–32 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-011-0157-2

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