Ecological and life-history traits explain recent boundary shifts in elevation and latitude of western North American songbirds

Abstract

Species are expected to move uphill or poleward in response to climate change, yet their distributions show idiosyncratic responses; many species are moving in the predicted direction, but others are not shifting at all or are shifting downhill or towards the equator. Fundamental questions remain about the causes of interspecific variation in range responses and whether shifts along elevational and latitudinal gradients are correlated.We examined whether shifts in northernlatitude and upper-elevation boundaries of western North American songbirds over a 35-year period were correlated and whether species ecological and lifehistory traits explained interspecific variation in observed shifts.

Citation

Auer, Sonya K.; King, David I. 2014. Ecological and life-history traits explain recent boundary shifts in elevation and latitude of western North American songbirds. Global Ecology and Biogeography. 23(8): 867-875.