Elevational ranges of birds on a tropical montane gradient lag behind warming temperatures.
Abstract
<h4>Background</h4>Species may respond to a warming climate by moving to higher latitudes
or elevations. Shifts in geographic ranges are common responses in temperate regions.
For the tropics, latitudinal temperature gradients are shallow; the only escape for
species may be to move to higher elevations. There are few data to suggest that they
do. Yet, the greatest loss of species from climate disruption may be for tropical
montane species.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>We repeat a historical transect
in Peru and find an average upward shift of 49 m for 55 bird species over a 41 year
interval. This shift is significantly upward, but also significantly smaller than
the 152 m one expects from warming in the region. To estimate the expected shift in
elevation we first determined the magnitude of warming in the locality from historical
data. Then we used the temperature lapse rate to infer the required shift in altitude
to compensate for warming. The range shifts in elevation were similar across different
trophic guilds.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Endothermy may provide birds with some flexibility
to temperature changes and allow them to move less than expected. Instead of being
directly dependent on temperature, birds may be responding to gradual changes in the
nature of the habitat or availability of food resources, and presence of competitors.
If so, this has important implications for estimates of mountaintop extinctions from
climate change.
Type
Journal articleSubject
AnimalsBirds
Reproducibility of Results
Behavior, Animal
Altitude
Biodiversity
Temperature
Climate
Tropical Climate
Population Dynamics
Species Specificity
Peru
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/23558Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1371/journal.pone.0028535Publication Info
Forero-Medina, German; Terborgh, John; Socolar, S Jacob; & Pimm, Stuart L (2011). Elevational ranges of birds on a tropical montane gradient lag behind warming temperatures.
PloS one, 6(12). pp. e28535. 10.1371/journal.pone.0028535. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/23558.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Stuart L. Pimm
Doris Duke Distinguished Professor of Conservation Ecology in the Nicholas School
of the Environment and Earth Sciences
Stuart Pimm is a world leader in the study of present-day extinctions and what can
be done to prevent them. His research covers the reasons why species become extinct,
how fast they do so, the global patterns of habitat loss and species extinction and,
importantly, the management consequences of this research. Pimm received his BSc degree
from Oxford University in 1971 and his Ph.D. from New Mexico State University in 1974.
Pimm is the author of over 350 scientific papers and five books. He i
John W. Terborgh
James B. Duke Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Environmental Sciences
John W. Terborgh is a James B. Duke Professor of Environmental Science and is Co-Director
of the Center for Tropical Conservation at Duke University. He is a member of the
National Academy of Science, and for the past thirty-five years, he has been actively
involved in tropical ecology and conservation issues. An authority on avian and mammalian
ecology in neotropical forests, Dr. Terborgh has published numerous articles and books
on conservation themes. Since 1973 he has operated a field statio
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