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Research Article | Open Access

Mongolian Lark as an indicator of taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of steppe birds

School of Life Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130024, China
College of Agricultural, Hulunbuir University, Hulunbuir, 021000, China
CESCO, UMR7204 MNHN-CNRS-Sorbonne Université, CP135, 43 Rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France
Department of Zoology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 71C, PL-60- 625, Poznań, Poland
Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Resource Conservation and Utilization, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130024, China
Jilin Engineering Laboratory for Avian Ecology and Conservation Genetics, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130024, China

1 These two authors contributed equally to this work.

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Abstract

Biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate. Many grassland species have been lost and are now of conservation concern. Identifying efficient biodiversity indicators is a key pillar of the global conservation strategy. Mongolian Lark (Melanocorypha mongolica) is a charismatic bird species abound in Mongolian steppes, and recent studies demonstrated that this species share similar habitat requirements and likely co-occur with other grassland birds. We tested the hypothesis that Mongolian Lark would make a suitable indicator for different aspects of avian biodiversity. We made a large-scale bird survey in Inner Mongolia, and classified point counts into three groups based on different taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic biodiversity measures. We identified species indicators of each group using the indicator value (IndVal) analysis, and examined the bird compositional difference among groups. Linear models were used for studying the patterns of occurrence of Mongolian Lark in relation to various biodiversity measures. Mongolian Lark showed the highest indicator value in comparison with other potential species indicators. Bird species richness is significantly higher at sites with Mongolian Lark, and its occurrence was negatively correlated with species abundance, functional richness, Rao's quadratic entropy and phylogenetic diversity. Mongolian Lark is therefore a suitable indicator species for avian biodiversity in Mongolian steppes. It is highly distinctive in flight and usually seen singly. The widespread distribution and charismatic appearance make it easy to monitor and adequate for citizen science, and may provide useful information on the paradigm of surrogacy in conservation ecology.

Keywords

ManagementBird assemblagesDiversity metricsGrassland conservationSurrogate species

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Avian Research
Volume 14 Issue 3,
September 2023
Article number: 100124
DOI: 10.1016/j.avrs.2023.100124
Cite this article:
Han Z, Yang X, Zhao X, et al. Mongolian Lark as an indicator of taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of steppe birds. Avian Research, 2023, 14(3): 100124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avrs.2023.100124

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Received: 28 March 2023
Revised: 09 July 2023
Accepted: 11 July 2023
Published: 02 August 2023
© 2023 The Authors.

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
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