Contrasting changes in the abundance and diversity of North American bird assemblages from 1971 to 2010
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In: Global Change Biology, Vol. 22, No. 12, 01.12.2016, p. 3948-3959.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Contrasting changes in the abundance and diversity of North American bird assemblages from 1971 to 2010
AU - Schipper, Aafke M.
AU - Belmaker, Jonathan
AU - de Miranda, Murilo Dantas
AU - Navarro, Laetitia M.
AU - Böhning-Gaese, Katrin
AU - Costello, Mark J.
AU - Dornelas, Maria
AU - Foppen, Ruud
AU - Hortal, Joaquín
AU - Huijbregts, Mark A.J.
AU - Martín-López, Berta
AU - Pettorelli, Nathalie
AU - Queiroz, Cibele
AU - Rossberg, Axel G.
AU - Santini, Luca
AU - Schiffers, Katja
AU - Steinmann, Zoran J.N.
AU - Visconti, Piero
AU - Rondinini, Carlo
AU - Pereira, Henrique M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2016 The Authors. Global Change Biology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2016/12/1
Y1 - 2016/12/1
N2 - Although it is generally recognized that global biodiversity is declining, few studies have examined long-term changes in multiple biodiversity dimensions simultaneously. In this study, we quantified and compared temporal changes in the abundance, taxonomic diversity, functional diversity, and phylogenetic diversity of bird assemblages, using roadside monitoring data of the North American Breeding Bird Survey from 1971 to 2010. We calculated 12 abundance and diversity metrics based on 5-year average abundances of 519 species for each of 768 monitoring routes. We did this for all bird species together as well as for four subgroups based on breeding habitat affinity (grassland, woodland, wetland, and shrubland breeders). The majority of the biodiversity metrics increased or remained constant over the study period, whereas the overall abundance of birds showed a pronounced decrease, primarily driven by declines of the most abundant species. These results highlight how stable or even increasing metrics of taxonomic, functional, or phylogenetic diversity may occur in parallel with substantial losses of individuals. We further found that patterns of change differed among the species subgroups, with both abundance and diversity increasing for woodland birds and decreasing for grassland breeders. The contrasting changes between abundance and diversity and among the breeding habitat groups underscore the relevance of a multifaceted approach to measuring biodiversity change. Our findings further stress the importance of monitoring the overall abundance of individuals in addition to metrics of taxonomic, functional, or phylogenetic diversity, thus confirming the importance of population abundance as an essential biodiversity variable.
AB - Although it is generally recognized that global biodiversity is declining, few studies have examined long-term changes in multiple biodiversity dimensions simultaneously. In this study, we quantified and compared temporal changes in the abundance, taxonomic diversity, functional diversity, and phylogenetic diversity of bird assemblages, using roadside monitoring data of the North American Breeding Bird Survey from 1971 to 2010. We calculated 12 abundance and diversity metrics based on 5-year average abundances of 519 species for each of 768 monitoring routes. We did this for all bird species together as well as for four subgroups based on breeding habitat affinity (grassland, woodland, wetland, and shrubland breeders). The majority of the biodiversity metrics increased or remained constant over the study period, whereas the overall abundance of birds showed a pronounced decrease, primarily driven by declines of the most abundant species. These results highlight how stable or even increasing metrics of taxonomic, functional, or phylogenetic diversity may occur in parallel with substantial losses of individuals. We further found that patterns of change differed among the species subgroups, with both abundance and diversity increasing for woodland birds and decreasing for grassland breeders. The contrasting changes between abundance and diversity and among the breeding habitat groups underscore the relevance of a multifaceted approach to measuring biodiversity change. Our findings further stress the importance of monitoring the overall abundance of individuals in addition to metrics of taxonomic, functional, or phylogenetic diversity, thus confirming the importance of population abundance as an essential biodiversity variable.
KW - Transdisciplinary studies
KW - biodiversity change
KW - biodiversity metrics
KW - functional diversity (FD)
KW - phylogenetic diversity (PD)
KW - taxonomic diversity (TD)
KW - species abundance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84969800766&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/262732d5-fd89-38f8-8098-02952af7722b/
U2 - 10.1111/gcb.13292
DO - 10.1111/gcb.13292
M3 - Journal articles
C2 - 27002684
VL - 22
SP - 3948
EP - 3959
JO - Global Change Biology
JF - Global Change Biology
SN - 1354-1013
IS - 12
ER -