Global impacts of climate change on avian functional diversity

Stewart, Peter S.; Voskamp, Alke; Santini, Luca; Biber, Matthias F.; Devenish, Adam J.M.; Hof, Christian; Willis, Stephen G.; Tobias, Joseph A.

doi:10.1111/ele.13830

Global impacts of climate change on avian functional diversity

Stewart, Peter S.; Voskamp, Alke; Santini, Luca; Biber, Matthias F.; Devenish, Adam J.M.; Hof, Christian; Willis, Stephen G.; Tobias, Joseph A.

Authors

Peter Stewart peter.s.stewart@durham.ac.uk
PGR Student Doctor of Philosophy

Alke Voskamp

Luca Santini

Matthias F. Biber

Adam J.M. Devenish

Christian Hof

Professor Stephen Willis s.g.willis@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Joseph A. Tobias

Abstract

Climate change is predicted to drive geographical range shifts, leading to fluctuations in species richness (SR) worldwide. However, the effect of these changes on functional diversity (FD) remains unclear, in part because comprehensive species-level trait data are generally lacking at global scales. Here, we use morphometric and ecological traits for 8268 bird species to estimate the impact of climate change on avian FD. We show that future bird assemblages are likely to undergo substantial shifts in trait structure, with a magnitude of change greater than predicted from SR alone, and a direction of change varying according to geographical location and trophic guild. For example, our models predict that FD of insect predators will increase at higher latitudes with concurrent losses at mid-latitudes, whereas FD of seed dispersing birds will fluctuate across the tropics. Our findings highlight the potential for climate change to drive continental-scale shifts in avian FD with implications for ecosystem function and resilience.

Citation

Stewart, P. S., Voskamp, A., Santini, L., Biber, M. F., Devenish, A. J., Hof, C., …Tobias, J. A. (2022). Global impacts of climate change on avian functional diversity. Ecology Letters, 25(3), 673-685. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13830

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	May 18, 2022
Online Publication Date	Feb 24, 2022
Publication Date	2022-03
Deposit Date	Aug 3, 2022
Publicly Available Date	Aug 3, 2022
Journal	Ecology Letters
Print ISSN	1461-023X
Electronic ISSN	1461-0248
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	25
Issue	3
Pages	673-685
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13830

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© 2022 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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