Limited evidence of biodiversity spillover from forest fragments into oil palm plantations in the Amazon

Oil palm expansion is a major driver of the biodiversity extinction crisis. Emerging frontiers of oil palm development in the Amazon risk major biodiversity loss. Spillover of biodiversity from adjacent forest fragments into plantations may reduce the loss of functional and phylogenetic diversity, but the extent of this effect remains unclear.
We surveyed bird communities in large forest fragments and oil palm plantations in the Brazilian Amazon during the dry seasons of 2012 and 2016. We assessed the loss of avian functional and phylogenetic diversity due to forest conversion, its impact on community structure, and whether the percentage of forest and proximity to fragments in oil palm points mitigate losses.
Compared to forest fragments, oil palm plantations exhibited lower phylogenetic and functional diversity. Conversion had a strong negative effect on functional structure, shifting communities from overdispersed to clustered, while phylogenetic structure remained largely unchanged...., , # Limited evidence of biodiversity spillover from forest fragments into oil palm plantations in the Amazon

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.c59zw3rm6](10.5061/dryad.c59zw3rm6)

## Description of the data and file structure

This dataset contains bird diversity data collected using point counts along 22 transects (11 in oil palm plantations and 11 in adjacent forest fragments) in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. Surveys were conducted to assess avian community composition and richness across contrasting land-use types. The dataset includes species abundance information, as well as point-level values for six phylogenetic diversity and six functional diversity metrics. Transect-level metadata, including habitat type, geographic coordinates, and landscape variables, are also provided. These data support the analyses presented in Cardoso et al. (2025).

### Files and variables

#### File: birds\_data.csv

**Description:** 

##### Variables

* site: ID code of the point count for which species have ...,