Quantitative Structure and Primary Succession of Bird Communities in a Finnish Archipelago

Communities of birds breeding on the Krunnit Islands (northern Gulf of Bothnia) were censused over 20 summers between 1939-72. Four types of islands (A-D), paralleling stages in a primary succession sere, can be distinguished on botanical criteria. In 1936, only the wooded islands (D) had characteri...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ornis Scandinavica 1977-06, Vol.8 (1), p.47-60
Main Authors: Vaisanen, Risto A., Jarvinen, Olli
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archipelagos
Aviculture
Bird nesting
Birds
Boulders
Breeding
Ducks
Islands
Sea birds
Species diversity
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Summary:Communities of birds breeding on the Krunnit Islands (northern Gulf of Bothnia) were censused over 20 summers between 1939-72. Four types of islands (A-D), paralleling stages in a primary succession sere, can be distinguished on botanical criteria. In 1936, only the wooded islands (D) had characteristic bird communities, but after protection also the populations on the younger islands recovered. The ornithological and botanical classifications of the islands agree in the latter half of the period. Sterna paradisaea dominates on the boulder skerries (A), Larus fuscus on the grassy skerries (B), L. canus on the grassy islands (C), but no sea-bird species is typical of D. Bird density ranges from 0.5 pairs/ha (D) to 129 p/ha (A), biomass from 0.2 kg/ha (D) to 75 kg/ha (B), and metabolic rate of existence in June from 70 (D) to 26,000 kcal/day · ha (B). Diversity (H′) increases with the successional stage of the island from 0.99 to 3.15.
ISSN:0030-5693
DOI:10.2307/3675987