| Issue № 3 |
Original research |
pdf-version |
Scale‑dependent regulation and the mosaic nature of the modes of bird metacommunity formation in the tundra of northeastern Yamal.
| Popov Sergey | Laboratory of Environmental Studies, 623418, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Kamensk-Uralsky, Prokopjev St., 21, mail@ecology-lab.com |
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Keywords: bird metacommunity spatial organization EMS analysis Gleason gradient ecological gradients bird communities tundra Yamal |
Summary: The scale-dependent organization and mechanisms of formation of tundra bird meta-communities remain poorly studied. The aim of this study is to identify the main patterns of meta-community formation among birds in the tundra in the northeast of Yamal, taking into account the spatial scale, the role of rare species, and the nonlinearity of ecological responses. Based on a network of 708 survey points, a presence-absence matrix was constructed for 54 bird species. The structure of meta-community was studied using the EMS method with a multilevel approach. It included an analysis of the complete meta-community and along ecological gradients, division of gradients into intervals and subsequent EMS analysis of each interval, step-by-step removal of rare species, and analysis for four spatial resolutions (100 m, 1 km, 2 km, and 5 km). Regulation of species composition was determined only at a spatial resolution of 2 km, where the Gleason gradient was detected. For other spatial resolutions, the observed randomness reflected the fragmentation of species ranges due to a large number of rare species or their overlap and high density of the matrix. The studied meta-community is organized hierarchically and represents a mosaic of deterministic and random patterns. Each spatial resolution has its own set of mechanisms for meta-community formation. A spatial resolution of 2 km is a critical threshold at which the dominant processes change: the regulation of species richness is replaced by the regulation of species composition. As spatial resolution increased, the number of significant correlations with environmental gradients decreased, while the strength of the correlations increased. It means that, with increasing spatial resolution, the internal structure of the meta-community is increasingly determined by a decreasing number of strong environmental factors. Most of the gradients for a spatial resolution of 100 m contain deterministic EMS patterns hidden by nonlinearity at the level of full gradients. Apparent stochasticity can mask the deterministic structure in communities with a high proportion of rare species. To understand the complex nature of the mechanisms underlying the formation of real meta-communities, hierarchical multiscale approaches are required. © Petrozavodsk State University |
Received on: 17 September 2025 Published on: 29 September 2026 | |
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