Species Composition of Neotropical Understory Bird Communities: Local Versus Regional Perspectives Based on Capture Data

Species richness and composition of bird assemblages found in the understory of undisturbed Neotropical forests vary at local and regional scales but the extent of that variation has not been well documented. Yet, such variation can be important for understanding patterns of diversity and for conservation. Here, we use capture data from two ca 100-ha study plots (sampled from March 2001 through March 2005) to compare understory assemblages at a local scale; nets on the plots were separated by approximately 1.7 km at the closest point. A total of 157 species (133 per plot) was represented in 6023 captures of 4001 individuals. After eliminating species not likely to be well-sampled with nets, there were 122 species total with 110 and 113 on the two plots, respectively. Species-accumulation curves and abundance-rank relationships were almost identical on both plots. Capture rates were high (53 and 56 birds captured per 100 mist-net-hours, mnh) on both plots. Distributions of species and individuals among families and genera were similar on the two plots but numbers of captures of some common species differed between plots in response to small-scale variation in environmental features. Indicator-species analyses selected seven species as more characteristic of one plot and nine as more characteristic of the other. At the regional level, understory assemblages were most similar to a site in Peru but differed from sites in Brazil, Venezuela, and, especially, Costa Rica. Dissimilarity in species richness per family was related to geographic distance only when Costa Rica was included in the analysis.