TY  - JOUR
A1  - Bender, Irene M. A.
A1  - Kissling, W. Daniel
A1  - Böhning-Gaese, Katrin
A1  - Hensen, Isabell
A1  - Kühn, Ingolf
A1  - Nowak, Larissa
A1  - Töpfer, Till
A1  - Wiegand, Thorsten
A1  - Dehling, D. Matthias
A1  - Schleuning, Matthias
T1  - Projected impacts of climate change on functional diversity of frugivorous birds along a tropical elevational gradient
T2  - Scientific reports
N2  - Climate change forces many species to move their ranges to higher latitudes or elevations. Resulting immigration or emigration of species might lead to functional changes, e.g., in the trait distribution and composition of ecological assemblages. Here, we combined approaches from biogeography (species distribution models; SDMs) and community ecology (functional diversity) to investigate potential effects of climate-driven range changes on frugivorous bird assemblages along a 3000 m elevational gradient in the tropical Andes. We used SDMs to model current and projected future occurrence probabilities of frugivorous bird species from the lowlands to the tree line. SDM-derived probabilities of occurrence were combined with traits relevant for seed dispersal of fleshy-fruited plants to calculate functional dispersion (FDis; a measure of functional diversity) for current and future bird assemblages. Comparisons of FDis between current and projected future assemblages showed consistent results across four dispersal scenarios, five climate models and two representative concentration pathways. Projections indicated a decrease of FDis in the lowlands, an increase of FDis at lower mid-elevations and little changes at high elevations. This suggests that functional dispersion responds differently to global warming at different elevational levels, likely modifying avian seed dispersal functions and plant regeneration in forest ecosystems along tropical mountains.
Y1  - 2019
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/56550
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-565502
SN  - 2045-2322
VL  - 9
IS  - 17708
PB  - Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature
CY  - [London]
ER  -