Thesis Colloquium at CES on 13 November 2024 at 3:00 pm titled " The making and breaking of bird alliances: studying mixed-species flock networks across an elevation gradient of eastern Himalayas." by Shubhra Shukla from IISc, Bangalore

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Topic: 
The making and breaking of bird alliances: studying mixed-species flock networks across an elevation gradient of eastern Himalayas.
Speaker: 
Shubhra Shukla, IISc, Bangalore
Date & Time: 
13 Nov 2024 - 3:00pm
Event Type: 
Thesis Colloquium
Venue: 
CES Seminar Hall, 3rd Floor, Biological Sciences Building
Coffee/Tea: 
Before the talk
Abstract:

Accelerating climate change as a result of anthropogenic activities continues to have a profound impact on ecosystems worldwide. Particularly vulnerable are the thermally sensitive flora and fauna of tropical mountains. Mountain ecosystems can therefore serve as in situ models to study the effects of climate change on biological communities. While innumerable studies have reported local extinctions of species and overall loss of biodiversity from across the globe, loss of biotic interactions also deserves attention. One of the most striking examples of networks of multi-species interactions is exemplified by mixed species flocks (MSFs). MSFs are groups of birds belonging to two or more species that forage and move together. MSF participants benefit from easier access to food resources and predator avoidance, which in turn influences the fitness of participant individuals. In this study, I examine how the composition and properties of MSF networks change along an elevation gradient. We observe a general decline in network structure with increasing elevation with some anomaly at around 1600m. I also attempt to correlate the composition of arthropods (such as flying insects, foliage insects) with the composition of MSF in terms of species with different foraging techniques.