A simple measure to quantify species specialization

What is it about?

In this study, we developed a multidimensional index of specialization based on five sets of ecological characteristics of European breeding bird species.

Featured Image

Photo by Paul M on Unsplash

Photo by Paul M on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Measuring the extent to which a species is specialized is a major challenge in ecology, with important repercussions for fundamental research as well as for applied ecology and conservation.

Perspectives

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The methods for constructing and evaluating a multidimensional index of bird specialization could also be applied to other taxa and regions, offering a simple but useful tool, particularly suited for global or biogeographic studies, as a contribution to comparative estimates of the degree of specialization of species.

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