Changes in the functional diversity of modern bird species over the last million years
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Changes in the functional diversity of modern bird species over the last million years. / Germain, Ryan Ross; Feng, Shaohong; Buffan, Lucas; Carmona, Carlos P. ; Chen, Guangii; Graves, Gary R.; Tobias, Joseph A.; Rahbek, Carsten; Lei, Fumin; Fjeldså, Jon; Hosner, Peter Andrew; Gilbert, M Thomas P; Zhang, Guojie; Nogues, David Bravo.
In: PNAS, Vol. 120, No. 7, e2201945119, 2023.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Changes in the functional diversity of modern bird species over the last million years
AU - Germain, Ryan Ross
AU - Feng, Shaohong
AU - Buffan, Lucas
AU - Carmona, Carlos P.
AU - Chen, Guangii
AU - Graves, Gary R.
AU - Tobias, Joseph A.
AU - Rahbek, Carsten
AU - Lei, Fumin
AU - Fjeldså, Jon
AU - Hosner, Peter Andrew
AU - Gilbert, M Thomas P
AU - Zhang, Guojie
AU - Nogues, David Bravo
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Despite evidence of declining biosphere integrity, we currently lack understanding of how the functional diversity associated with changes in abundance among ecological communities has varied over time and before widespread human disturbances. We combine morphological, ecological, and life-history trait data for >260 extant bird species with genomic-based estimates of changing effective population size (Ne) to quantify demographic-based shifts in avian functional diversity over the past million years and under pre-anthropogenic climate warming. We show that functional diversity was relatively stable over this period, but underwent significant changes in some key areas of trait space due to changing species abundances. Our results suggest that patterns of population decline over the Pleistocene have been concentrated in particular regions of trait space associated with extreme reproductive strategies and low dispersal ability, consistent with an overall erosion of functional diversity. Further, species most sensitive to climate warming occupied a relatively narrow region of functional space, indicating that the largest potential population increases and decreases under climate change will occur among species with relatively similar trait sets. Overall, our results identify fluctuations in functional space of extant species over evolutionary timescales and represent the demographic-based vulnerability of different regions of functional space among these taxa. The integration of paleodemographic dynamics with functional trait data enhances our ability to quantify losses of biosphere integrity before anthropogenic disturbances and attribute contemporary biodiversity loss to different drivers over time.
AB - Despite evidence of declining biosphere integrity, we currently lack understanding of how the functional diversity associated with changes in abundance among ecological communities has varied over time and before widespread human disturbances. We combine morphological, ecological, and life-history trait data for >260 extant bird species with genomic-based estimates of changing effective population size (Ne) to quantify demographic-based shifts in avian functional diversity over the past million years and under pre-anthropogenic climate warming. We show that functional diversity was relatively stable over this period, but underwent significant changes in some key areas of trait space due to changing species abundances. Our results suggest that patterns of population decline over the Pleistocene have been concentrated in particular regions of trait space associated with extreme reproductive strategies and low dispersal ability, consistent with an overall erosion of functional diversity. Further, species most sensitive to climate warming occupied a relatively narrow region of functional space, indicating that the largest potential population increases and decreases under climate change will occur among species with relatively similar trait sets. Overall, our results identify fluctuations in functional space of extant species over evolutionary timescales and represent the demographic-based vulnerability of different regions of functional space among these taxa. The integration of paleodemographic dynamics with functional trait data enhances our ability to quantify losses of biosphere integrity before anthropogenic disturbances and attribute contemporary biodiversity loss to different drivers over time.
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.2201945119
DO - 10.1073/pnas.2201945119
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 36745783
VL - 120
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
SN - 0027-8424
IS - 7
M1 - e2201945119
ER -
ID: 336456850