Ecology 6th Edition by Manuel Molles

Exercise 11

As we saw in figure 20.5, Johnston and Odum (1956) docu­mented substantial change in the richness of bird species in a successional sequence going from the earliest stages in which the plant community was dominated by grasses and forbs to mature oak-hickory forests. Use MacArthur's (see chapter 16) studies (1958, 1961) of foliage height diversity and bird diver­sity to explain the patterns of diversity increase observed by Johnston and Odum.
Figure 20.5 Change in number of breeding bird species during secondary forest succession (data from Johnston and Odum 1956).