Esteban A. Guevara
Other projects
2 Apr 2015
A Participative Approach to Study the Effects of Human-Induced Disturbance on Plant – Bird Interactions in the Tropical Andes
This is a follow-up project aimed to deepen the understanding of responses of bird-plant pollination networks to drivers of global change, using lessons learned during the implementation of the first project phase. During the first phase we learnt that quantification of available floral resources is critical to understand changes in network structure over time, for this we will implement field protocols to measure plant phenology. Also, extending the altitudinal range of our study will provide an environmental gradient which will serve as a space for time substitution allowing us to explore the effects of climate change on pollination networks. The focus of our project is to be participative, so local participation will be encouraged.
Male Violet-tailed Sylph (Aglaiocercus coelestis) feeding on Heliconia aff. griggsiana (Helinoniaceae)
This is a follow-up project that looks to enhance monitoring schemes to assess the effects of climate change over plant-bird pollination networks. Our monitoring approach is participative which implies the active involvement of local stakeholders in the project. Activities considered in this second phase include:
Project Socialization: We will organize two half-day workshops at local towns. Reserve owners, local authorities, university teachers and students, local NGOs and further people interested will be invited. During these events we will report the results from our first Rufford project and will explain activities to be implemented in this current project.
Training workshops: Once project collaborators have been identified we will organize workshops to train them on techniques of data collection, video filtering and basic data plotting.
Plant-bird monitoring: We will use a combination of cameras and transect protocols to quantify bird and flower abundance and plant – bird interactions. Transect protocol consist of collection of three data types: 1) audio-visual census of all hummingbirds species noted, 2) flower counts of all ornithophilous flowering plants within a five-m perpendicular distance to the transect and 3) all plant-bird interactions noted during the transect walk. Camera protocol consists on the use of Plotwatcher Pro Cameras to record plant-bird interactions. Cameras are easily deployed to take photos at different flowering plants simultaneously; these are placed approximately one meter distance from flowers and programmed to take a picture every second during three consecutive days.
Data management and analysis: Once field data are digitalized we will model the response of mutualistic networks as a function of environmental gradients (i.e. resource availability, elevation, temperature). Network metrics such as nestedness and modularity will be used as response variables in regression models against environmental gradients and period of the year to account for within-year changes in resource abundance. Finally, using monthly floral transects at each of the sites, we will generate pools of available floral resources that change with seasonal phenology to examine how temporal diversity of flowers used is correlated with changes in environmental conditions.
Results dissemination: We will organize four talks aimed to landowners and local inhabitants and other people interested at study sites. Furthermore, we will look for venues to outreach our results to wider audiences, like world bird festivals and Christmas bird counts. Finally at least two peer-reviewed publications will be prepared.