Data from: The response of mixed-species bird flocks to anthropogenic disturbance and elevational variation in southwest China ...

• Main Authors: Zhou, Liping, Peabotuwage, Indika, Gu, Hao, Jiang, Demeng, Hu, Guohua, Jiang, Aiwu, Mammides, Christos, Zhang, Mingxia, Quan, Rui-Chang, Goodale, Eben
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2019
• Subjects: Anthropocene; bird conservation; species interaction network; group living; fratercula
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.t2t00m0; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.t2t00m0

Avian mixed-species flocks (MSFs) are an important example of species interactions threatened by the biodiversity crisis. They are found throughout the world in forested habitats, but are generally reduced in size or frequency by human disturbance. In southern China, a unique MSF system has been described that is led by fulvettas (Alcippe morrisonia, A. hueti and A. davidi). Our objective was to understand how this system is distributed across elevational gradients, especially moving west into the Hengduan Mountains, and how it responds to human disturbance. We sampled leadership and composition of 375 MSFs over 2 years in and surrounding 5 nature reserves in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Yunnan Province, with transects placed in different land use types – protected forest, buffer areas, or agriculture – and ranging from 400 to 3200 m. We also sampled birds outside of MSFs. We found MSFs led by fulvettas (A. fratercula and A. davidi) in forests across the region up to 2900 m. Elevation was not a ... : Flock DatabaseThe species composition of 375 mixed-species flocks sampled in the study.Final Flock database for Zhou et al. 2019.xlsxPropensity and Encounter Rate DataThe flocking propensity (% of individuals in mixed-species flocks) and flock encounter rate for all the transects sampled during the study.Final Propensity and Encounter Rate data for Zhou et al. 2019.xlsx ...