Elevational ranges of birds on a tropical montane gradient lag behind warming temperatures.

<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 hi...

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Autores principales:	German Forero-Medina, John Terborgh, S Jacob Socolar, Stuart L Pimm
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2011
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/26e0e49101a646beb41b832786b001d8
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:26e0e49101a646beb41b832786b001d82021-11-18T07:32:49ZElevational ranges of birds on a tropical montane gradient lag behind warming temperatures.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0028535https://doaj.org/article/26e0e49101a646beb41b832786b001d82011-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/22163309/pdf/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203<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.German Forero-MedinaJohn TerborghS Jacob SocolarStuart L PimmPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 6, Iss 12, p e28535 (2011)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q German Forero-Medina John Terborgh S Jacob Socolar Stuart L Pimm Elevational ranges of birds on a tropical montane gradient lag behind warming temperatures.
description	<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.
format	article
author	German Forero-Medina John Terborgh S Jacob Socolar Stuart L Pimm
author_facet	German Forero-Medina John Terborgh S Jacob Socolar Stuart L Pimm
author_sort	German Forero-Medina
title	Elevational ranges of birds on a tropical montane gradient lag behind warming temperatures.
title_short	Elevational ranges of birds on a tropical montane gradient lag behind warming temperatures.
title_full	Elevational ranges of birds on a tropical montane gradient lag behind warming temperatures.
title_fullStr	Elevational ranges of birds on a tropical montane gradient lag behind warming temperatures.
title_full_unstemmed	Elevational ranges of birds on a tropical montane gradient lag behind warming temperatures.
title_sort	elevational ranges of birds on a tropical montane gradient lag behind warming temperatures.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2011
url	https://doaj.org/article/26e0e49101a646beb41b832786b001d8
work_keys_str_mv	AT germanforeromedina elevationalrangesofbirdsonatropicalmontanegradientlagbehindwarmingtemperatures AT johnterborgh elevationalrangesofbirdsonatropicalmontanegradientlagbehindwarmingtemperatures AT sjacobsocolar elevationalrangesofbirdsonatropicalmontanegradientlagbehindwarmingtemperatures AT stuartlpimm elevationalrangesofbirdsonatropicalmontanegradientlagbehindwarmingtemperatures
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Elevational ranges of birds on a tropical montane gradient lag behind warming temperatures.

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