Does bird species diversity vary among forest types? A local-scale test in southern Chile.

Birds are the most diverse vertebrate group in Chile, characterized by low species turnover at the country-size scale (high alpha but low beta diversities), resembling an island biota. We tested whether this low differentiation is valid at a local scale, among six forest habitat types. We detected 25 bird species; avifauna composition was significantly different among habitat types, with five species accounting for 60% of the dissimilarity. We found a higher level of bird assemblage differentiation across habitats at the local scale than has been found at the country-size scale. Such differentiation might be attributed to structural differences among habitats.