Intra-species diversity helps resist the effects of climate change: Research
Researchers have found that North American bird communities with functionally diverse species have changed less due to climate change over the past 50 years than functionally simple communities.
In a recent scientific study by the University of Helsinki, which covers almost all North American bird species, researchers investigated changes in community composition and community diversity over half a century.
Bird communities with greater species richness and a wider range of functional traits have changed less radically in their community composition as a result of climate change, the study found.
“If the community had, for example, birds of prey, insect eaters and seed eaters instead of birds from one feeding guild, it was better protected from the negative effects of climate change,” emphasized director Emma-Liina Marjakangas. researcher of the study.
Climate change has undeniable global effects on ecosystems and ecological communities, but why certain communities are better able to resist the effects of climate change than others remains unclear.
Diversity at the community level acts as a buffer against the negative effects of climate change, especially in winter, i.e. the season when the climate has warmed most strongly in the entire northern hemisphere.
On the other hand, biodiversity played a smaller role in the breeding season.
Previous studies have shown that bird communities change faster in winter than in summer, which explains this pattern.
The habitat and the available food determine the flexibility of the species to change its breeding and wintering areas, the study states.
“For example, grass species have shifted their distribution northwards more slowly than the forest zone, such as the American belt, or the general ones of the habitat, such as the mourning dove,” says senior curator Aleksi Lehikoinen from the University of Helsinki.
Functionally diverse bird communities help maintain ecosystems by dispersing plant seeds, controlling insect pests and even pollinating flowering plants, the study found.
Climate change is changing the composition of these important bird communities and thus threatening their ability to provide ecosystem services, the study states.
“Our results reinforce the understanding that biodiversity secures ecosystem functioning and that biodiversity and climate crises must be mitigated simultaneously to avoid multiple impacts,” Marjakangas said.
The study was based on the community science database covering the whole of North America from 1966 to 2016, and was published in the international journal Scientific Reports.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and was automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)