caa a22 4500 605527008 CHVBK 20210128100806.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20151101xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10531-015-1001-x doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10531-015-1001-x The indirect effects of habitat disturbance on the bird communities in a tropical African forest [Elektronische Daten] [Christos Mammides, Matthias Schleuning, Katrin Böhning-Gaese, Gertrud Schaab, Nina Farwig, Costas Kadis, Tim Coulson] Tropical forests are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic activities often resulting in habitat and biodiversity loss. To effectively manage and protect these areas, it is important to have an understanding of the factors affecting their biodiversity. Previous research has shown that birds in tropical regions are severely affected by human-induced habitat conversion and disturbance. The effects, however, are often area and guild-specific and the underlying mechanisms are frequently unclear. In this study, we disentangle and quantify the direct and indirect effects of human population density, distance to forest edge, habitat disturbance, and vegetation structure and composition on the total abundance and species richness of birds in Kakamega Forest, Kenya. Specifically, we use structural equation modeling to develop and test path models, which reflect the potential causal relationships between the bird assemblages and the chosen explanatory factors. Relationships were tested on the overall bird community and on five different guilds, classified according to birds' forest specialization and feeding preferences (i.e. forest specialists, generalists and visitors, and frugivores and insectivores). Results showed that habitat disturbance, caused by logging, had a weak positive direct effect on the bird communities, but also had a strong detrimental indirect effect, particularly on the total abundance and species richness of forests specialists and insectivores. The negative effect was mediated through changes in the forest's vegetation structure and composition. Shorter distances to the forest edge also had a negative effect, on all bird categories except on forest visitors, which also benefited from higher levels of disturbance. Our study shows that although in some cases habitat disturbance may have no strong direct negative effects it can still negatively influence bird communities in an indirect way. In the case of Kakamega Forest, we suggest that to conserve bird communities it is important to maintain the forest's compositional and structural diversity by reducing human-induced habitat disturbance, such as illegal logging activities. Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht, 2015 Bird conservation nationallicence Tropical forests nationallicence Structural equation modeling nationallicence Species richness nationallicence Anthropogenic habitat disturbance nationallicence Vegetation structure and composition nationallicence Mammides Christos Division of Biology and Centre for Population Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Imperial College, Silwood Park, Ascot, SL5 7PY, Berkshire, UK aut Schleuning Matthias Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F) and Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt/Main, Germany aut Böhning-Gaese Katrin Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F) and Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt/Main, Germany aut Schaab Gertrud Faculty of Information Management and Media, Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, Moltkestrasse 30, 76133, Karlsruhe, Germany aut Farwig Nina Department of Ecology, Conservation Ecology, University of Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch-Str. 8, 35032, Marburg, Germany aut Kadis Costas Nature Conservation Unit, Frederick University, P. O. Box 24729, 1303, Nicosia, Cyprus aut Coulson Tim Division of Biology and Centre for Population Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Imperial College, Silwood Park, Ascot, SL5 7PY, Berkshire, UK aut Biodiversity and Conservation Springer Netherlands 24/12(2015-11-01), 3083-3107 0960-3115 24:12<3083 2015 24 10531 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-1001-x text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-1001-x text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Mammides Christos Division of Biology and Centre for Population Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Imperial College, Silwood Park, Ascot, SL5 7PY, Berkshire, UK aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Schleuning Matthias Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F) and Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt/Main, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Böhning-Gaese Katrin Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F) and Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt/Main, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Schaab Gertrud Faculty of Information Management and Media, Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, Moltkestrasse 30, 76133, Karlsruhe, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Farwig Nina Department of Ecology, Conservation Ecology, University of Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch-Str. 8, 35032, Marburg, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Kadis Costas Nature Conservation Unit, Frederick University, P. O. Box 24729, 1303, Nicosia, Cyprus aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Coulson Tim Division of Biology and Centre for Population Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Imperial College, Silwood Park, Ascot, SL5 7PY, Berkshire, UK aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Biodiversity and Conservation Springer Netherlands 24/12(2015-11-01), 3083-3107 0960-3115 24:12<3083 2015 24 10531