Avian community disassembly in high elevation andean cloud forest fragments

Neotropical avian communities are predicted to be sensitive to habitat fragmentation, especially when embedded within impermeable agricultural matrices, such as pasture. However, no research has examined the disassembly of high elevation cloud forest communities in fragmented landscapes. Using point count, flock, and mist netting surveys we examine how avian communities disassemble across a network of 28 forest fragments in northern Peru, 1800-3000m, embedded within two matrix types predicted to have differential permeability to movement: pasture and mixed agricultural. Preliminary analyses suggest that community and flock richness is strongly related to patch size and weakly related to several measures of patch isolation. Interestingly, there is no difference in community or flock richness between the two matrix types. Future analyses will examine (1) guild and species-specific responses to fragmentation, (2) the role of community assembly processes, including interspecific competition and dispersal limitation, and (3) community disassembly along gradients of agricultural land use intensification.