Bird communities of the Iberian shrubsteppes

• Published in: Ecography
• Main Authors: Tellería, J. L., Suárez, F., Santos, T.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1988
• Subjects: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Alauda arvensis
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0587.1988.tb00797.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1600-0587.1988.tb00797.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1600-0587.1988.tb00797.x

Bird communities of high, cold shrubsteppes (páramos) and low, warm shrubsteppes (semideserts) of the Iberian Peninsula were studied using the line‐transect method. The seven censused areas are distributed from north to south approximately forming a climatic gradient along which temperature increases and precipitation decreases. Alauda arvensis and Oenanthe oenanthe are typical of páramos and O. hispanica and the genus Galerida of semideserts, while Calandrella cinerea is the most widely distributed passerine. Páramos tend to have high spring densities whereas semideserts have high densities and greater diversity during winter. Changes of density between spring and winter are less pronounced in semideserts, showing a relation with the temperature decrease from north to south. These tendencies agree with those found in other habitats (scrublands and forests) along a north‐south transect throughout the Iberia Peninsula, indicating that distribution and abundance of the winter avifauna respond positively to increase of temperature.