Dominated Taxonomic and Phylogenetic Turnover but Functional Nestedness of Wetland Bird Beta Diversity in North China
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
I appreciate the opportunity to review. The authors explore avian beta diversity across a few dozen lakes in northern China, finding that turnover exceeds nestedness for taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity (but not functional diversity), and that distinctions are sometimes correlated with distance and climatic differences. I think the manuscript works ok as a descriptive (albeit coarse) study of wetland bird diversity status for the region. The results aren't entirely surprising (I think most ecologists would expect turnover to increase as environmental or geographic distance increases--this is really at the heart of dissimilarity modeling), but perhaps still worth presenting as a baseline assessment.
Introduction: I generally thought this conveyed the motivating ideas well and succinctly.
Throughout: I think it would generally be grammatically clear to say “wetland ecosystems” rather than “the wetland ecosystems”. Also, I would remove hyphens from single words (ie., nestedness rather than nested-ness).
L42: suggest “their high productivity” vs. “the”.
L49: I believe “sequester” is not hyphenated.
L101: More detail here would be appreciated. For example, published species lists might include all species observed, or all species “considered” or “sampled” (i.e., a subset of species actively searched for or so forth). Also, what is the temporal domain of these studies? Seems like certain wetlands may have been surveyed by multiple efforts—how was this dealt with?
L124: “represent” is not hyphenated
L128: I’m personally not up to date on the latest phylogenic approaches, so defer to any other comments here.
L140: is this not just the difference?
L155: Long sentence—could try to break things up. On the t-test: is this appropriate when data are bound/skewed as such? Probably does not make a huge difference, but did the authors consider a logit-transform or related prior to undertaking the test?
L166: unnecessary hyphens in figure caption.
Figures: I would write out full axis titles rather than using acronyms.
L206 (and referring to methods): It’s intuitive that larger differences in temperature or precipitation might be associated with greater turnover, but not entirely clear why/how climatic differences might be associated with nestedness. The authors might unpack this a little more.
L239: To be honest, I found this paragraph somewhat vague. I’m sure the authors could find plenty of more germane examples for wetland bird diversity (or just bird diversity) patterns than the cited grassland plant example, and it might be good for the authors to place more focus on the implications of this.
Introduction: I generally thought this conveyed the motivating ideas well and succinctly.
Throughout: I think it would generally be grammatically clear to say “wetland ecosystems” rather than “the wetland ecosystems”. Also, I would remove hyphens from single words (ie., nestedness rather than nested-ness).
L42: suggest “their high productivity” vs. “the”.
L49: I believe “sequester” is not hyphenated.
L101: More detail here would be appreciated. For example, published species lists might include all species observed, or all species “considered” or “sampled” (i.e., a subset of species actively searched for or so forth). Also, what is the temporal domain of these studies? Seems like certain wetlands may have been surveyed by multiple efforts—how was this dealt with?
L124: “represent” is not hyphenated
L128: I’m personally not up to date on the latest phylogenic approaches, so defer to any other comments here.
L140: is this not just the difference?
L155: Long sentence—could try to break things up. On the t-test: is this appropriate when data are bound/skewed as such? Probably does not make a huge difference, but did the authors consider a logit-transform or related prior to undertaking the test?
L166: unnecessary hyphens in figure caption.
Figures: I would write out full axis titles rather than using acronyms.
L206 (and referring to methods): It’s intuitive that larger differences in temperature or precipitation might be associated with greater turnover, but not entirely clear why/how climatic differences might be associated with nestedness. The authors might unpack this a little more.
L239: To be honest, I found this paragraph somewhat vague. I’m sure the authors could find plenty of more germane examples for wetland bird diversity (or just bird diversity) patterns than the cited grassland plant example, and it might be good for the authors to place more focus on the implications of this.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
An interesting approach to assessing the diversity of wetland avifauna is reflected in this manuscript. Wetlands are an important hotspot for assessing biodiversity, as wetlands are rapidly transforming due to high anthropogenic pressures and as a result of climate change. I think that the methods were applied adequately. The approach proposed by the authors can be applied by other researchers in assessing beta diversity for other territories, habitats and taxa.
The manuscript may be published after minor technical revisions.
Technical remarks
1. Some words are broken by hyphens in the middle of the line. Authors should carefully correct the text. For example:
Page 2, line 50 "cli-mate" change to "climate"
Page 2, line 51 "eco-system" change to "ecosystem" et ctr
2. Citation "WWW (2020)" change to "Almond et al. (2020 )
See Page 2 line 60 et ctr
3. Page 4 line 150 "betaobs" change to "betaobs"
4. In my opinion, the location of figures 2 and 3 should be changed. The section 3 "Results" should not start with pictures. They should be moved to the end of section 3.2 after their description.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
