An environmental habitat gradient and within-habitat segregation enable co-existence of ecologically similar bird species

Niche theory predicts that ecologically similar species can co-exist through multidimensional niche partitioning. However, due to the challenges of accounting for both abiotic and biotic processes in ecological niche modelling, the underlying mechanisms that facilitate co-existence of competing species are poorly understood. In this study, we evaluated potential mechanisms underlying the co-existence of ecologically similar bird species in a biodiversity-rich transboundary montane forest in east-central Africa by computing niche overlap indices along an environmental elevation gradient, diet, forest strata, activity patterns, and within-habitat segregation across horizontal space. We found strong support for abiotic environmental habitat niche partitioning, with 55% of species pairs having separate elevation niches. For the remaining species pairs that exhibited similar elevation niches, we found that within-habitat segregation across horizontal space and to a lesser extent vertical for..., , All the datasets are in .csv format and .Rdata format.
Accessable using R programing software (open-source) for statistical analysis.,

生态位理论（niche theory）预测，生态习性相似的物种可通过多维生态位分化实现共存。然而，由于在生态位建模（ecological niche modelling）中同时兼顾非生物与生物过程存在诸多难点，当前学界对促进竞争物种共存的内在机制仍知之甚少。本研究以非洲中东部生物多样性富集的跨境山地森林为研究区域，通过计算沿环境海拔梯度、食性、森林层片、活动模式以及水平空间生境内分化等维度的生态位重叠指数，评估了该区域内生态习性相似鸟类物种的共存潜在机制。研究结果强烈支持非生物生境生态位分化假说：55%的物种种对拥有独立的海拔生态位。对于其余呈现相似海拔生态位的物种种对，本研究发现其可通过水平空间范围内的生境内分化实现共存，且在一定程度上辅以垂直觅食相关的分化（原文后续内容存在截断）。本研究所有数据集均采用.csv格式与.Rdata格式存储，可通过开源统计分析软件R进行访问与分析。