Multimodality in the Individual Size Distributions of Bird Communities
Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Global Ecology and Biogeography
Volume
20
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Publication Date
2011
First Page
145
Last Page
153
Abstract
Body size often plays a significant role in community assembly through its impacts on the life history and ecological attributes of species. Insight into the importance of size in structuring communities can be gained by examining the distribution of sizes of individuals(i.e., the individual size distribution (ISD) or size spectrum) in a community. ISDs have been studied extensively in aquatic and tree communities, but have received little attention in terrestrial animal communities. Here, we conduct the first macroecological analysis of ISDs in terrestrial animal communities to determine whether they show broad-scale consistency in shape.
Recommended Citation
Thibault, K.M., E.P. White, A.H. Hurlbert, S.K.M. Ernest. 2011. Multimodality in the individual size distributions of bird communities. Global Ecology and Biogeography 20:145- 153.