Avian ecosystem functions under a climate change scenario

• Grant number: 14/14746-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: September 01, 2014
• End date: August 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Jean Paul Walter Metzger
• Grantee: Greet De Coster
• Supervisor: Cristina Banks-Leite
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Imperial College London, England
• Associated to the scholarship: 12/06866-7 - The recovery of avian ecosystem functions in secondary Atlantic Forest, BP.PD

Abstract

Habitat loss and climate change represent the most important threats to biodiversity. While efforts to predict the effects of climate change have mainly focused on consequences for biodiversity from a taxonomic point of view, it is likely that climate change is also deleterious for ecosystem functioning, similarly to the effects of habitat loss. Yet, few studies have been conducted to predict the consequences of future climate change on the provisioning of ecological functions, and none investigated simultaneously how habitat loss may influence the predicted response. In this study, I will predict how future climate change will affect the distribution of the Atlantic Forest bird community and the potential consequences for the execution of avian ecosystem functions. The Brazilian Atlantic Forest is a hotspot for biodiversity, and it is not only severely threatened by habitat loss, but also by climate change. Previous studies on a small subset of Atlantic Forest birds predicted large reductions in their distributional range, but differences in species responses due to different sensitivities to deforestation and variation in dispersal capacity were not explored, neither were the possible consequences for the execution of ecological functions. I will apply a five-step procedure to investigate the research aim. I will (1) model current species distribution based on current climate variables and Atlantic Forest cover; (2) extrapolate results to predict potential future distributions; (3) restrict potential future distributions by taking species sensitivity to deforestation and dispersal capacity into account; (4) calculate species richness and functional diversity for potential future bird communities; and (5) assess where restoration effort of the Atlantic Forest have to be concentrated to limit the impact of future climate change. (AU)

Scientific publications

(4)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

ULRICH, WERNER; BANKS-LEITE, CRISTINA; DE COSTER, GREET; HABEL, JAN CHRISTIAN; MATHEVE, HANS; NEWMARK, WILLIAM D.; TOBIAS, JOSEPH A.; LENS, LUC. Environmentally and behaviourally mediated co-occurrence of functional traits in bird communities of tropical forest fragments. OIKOS, v. 127, n. 2, p. 274-284, FEB 2018. (14/14746-7, 12/06866-7)

ALMEIDA-GOMES, MAURICIO; VIEIRA, MARCUS VINICIUS; DUARTE ROCHA, CARLOS FREDERICO; METZGER, JEAN PAUL; DE COSTER, GREET. Patch size matters for amphibians in tropical fragmented landscapes. Biological Conservation, v. 195, p. 89-96, MAR 2016. (14/14746-7, 12/06866-7)

LIBRAN-EMBID, FELIPE; DE COSTER, GREET; METZGER, JEAN PAUL. Effects of bird and bat exclusion on coffee pest control at multiple spatial scales. LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY, v. 32, n. 9, p. 1907-1920, SEP 2017. (14/14746-7, 12/06866-7, 13/23457-6)

DE COSTER, GREET; BANKS-LEITE, CRISTINA; METZGER, JEAN PAUL. Atlantic forest bird communities provide different but not fewer functions after habitat loss. PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, v. 282, n. 1811, JUL 22 2015. (14/14746-7, 12/06866-7)