Can the effect of species ecological traits on birds' altitudinal changes differ between geographic areas?

Rocchia, Emanuel; Luppi, Massimiliano; Dondina, Olivia; Orioli, Valerio; Bani, Luciano

doi:10.1016/j.actao.2018.08.001

Cited by 11 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…The results of this research showed how the environmental transformations undergoing in mountain areas are leading to a shift toward higher elevations of a large part of the species living there (see also Rocchia et al, 2018;Ferrarini, Alatalo, & Gustin, 2017; but see Scridel et al, 2018). However, the upward shift was not only driven by temperature increase.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…This phenomenon is chiefly linked to the land abandonment caused by the widespread loss of economic performance of mountain pastoral activities (Schermer et al, 2016). Indeed, in a previous study conducted between 2006, Rocchia, Luppi, Dondina, Orioli and Bani (2018 found that most of the breeding birds showed a significant change of their elevational range and that a large part of these birds were forest species. This pattern, as stated by the authors, is probably due to a significant upward shift of forests (i.e., forest expansion) during the period considered, since they did not find a significant positive trend for temperature.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Overall, in the long-term period, the abandonment of pastures and climate warming may promote the shrub and forest expansion at the expense of open habitat in mountain areas, leading to a general complex pattern that can vary between geographical areas (e.g., Rocchia, Luppi, Dondina, Orioli, & Bani, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Winners and losers: How the elevational range of breeding birds on Alps has varied over the past four decades due to climate and habitat changes

Bani

Luppi

Rocchia

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Climate warming and habitat transformation are widely recognized as worrying threatening factors. Understanding the individual contribution of these two factors to the change of species distribution could be very important in order to effectively counteract the species range contraction, especially in mountains, where alpine species are strongly limited in finding new areas to be colonized at higher elevations. We proposed a method to disentangle the effects of the two drivers of range change for breeding birds in Italian Alps, in the case of co‐occurring climate warming and shrub and forest encroachment. For each species, from 1982 to 2017, we related the estimated yearly elevational distribution of birds to the correspondent overall average of the daily minimum temperatures during the breeding season and the estimated amount of shrubs and forest cover. Using a hierarchical partitioning approach, we assessed the net contribution (i.e., without the shared effect) of each driver. Both temperature and shrub and forest cover showed a positive trend along the time series and resulted the most likely causes of the significant elevational displacement for 21 of the 29 investigated birds. While shrub and forest cover was found to be an important driver of the expansion of forest bird range toward higher elevations, the effect of temperature on favouring the colonization of previously climatically unsuitable forests at higher elevations was not negligible. Shrub and forest expansion resulted the main driver of the range contraction for edge and open habitat species, which suffered a distribution shrinkage at their lower elevational boundary. In light of climate warming, these results highlighted how the net range loss for edge and open habitat species, caused by shrub and forest encroachment consequent to land abandonment, should be counteracted by implementing proper conservation management strategies and promoting sustainable economic activities in rangeland areas.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Winners and losers: How the elevational range of breeding birds on Alps has varied over the past four decades due to climate and habitat changes

Bani

Luppi

Rocchia

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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“…In the European Alps, the effect of climate change is regionally affected by human activities. Cattle grazing in the alpine pastures has been decreasing throughout the past century, allowing rapid recolonization by trees and shrubs, where the treeline had been artificially lowered (e.g., Vittoz et al 2008a;EEA 2010;Rocchia et al 2018).…”

Section: Plot Occupancymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The alpine biodiversity has already responded to these factors. Upward shifts of alpine plants (Walther et al 2005, Pauli et al 2012, Vittoz et al 2013, invertebrates (butterflies, Wilson et al 2007, Wilson andGutierrez 2012;carabid beetles, Pizzolotto et al 2014) and mountain birds (Scridel et al 2018, Rocchia et al 2018 have been documented. In addition, community composition has changed at high alpine sites (Keller and Körner 2003), with an accelerating increase of species richness, in many cases due to an expansion of generalist species (Walther et al 2005, Pauli et al 2007.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Butterfly distribution along altitudinal gradients: temporal changes over a short time period

Cerrato¹,

Rocchia²,

Brunetti³

et al. 2019

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Mountain ecosystems are particularly sensitive to changes in climate and land cover, but at the same time, they can offer important refuges for species on the opposite of the more altered lowlands. To explore the potential role of mountain ecosystems in butterfly conservation and to assess the vulnerability of the alpine species, we analyzed the short-term changes (2006–2008 vs. 2012–2013) of butterflies’ distribution along altitudinal gradients in the NW Italian Alps. We sampled butterfly communities once a month (62 sampling stations, 3 seasonal replicates per year, from June to August) by semi-quantitative sampling techniques. The monitored gradient ranges from the montane to the alpine belt (600–2700 m a.s.l.) within three protected areas: Gran Paradiso National Park (LTER, Sitecode: LTER_EU_IT_109), Orsiera Rocciavrè Natural Park and Veglia Devero Natural Park. We investigated butterflies’ temporal changes in accordance with a hierarchical approach to assess potential relationships between species and community level. As a first step, we characterized each species in terms of habitat requirements, elevational range and temperature preferences and we compared plot occupancy and altitudinal range changes between time periods (2006–2008 vs. 2012–2013). Secondly, we focused on community level, analyzing species richness and community composition temporal changes. The species level analysis highlighted a general increase in mean occupancy level and significant changes at both altitudinal boundaries. Looking at the ecological groups, we observed an increase of generalist and highly mobile species at the expense of the specialist and less mobile ones. For the community level, we noticed a significant increase in species richness, in the community temperature index and a tendency towards homogenization within communities. Besides the short time period considered, butterflies species distribution and communities changed considerably. In light of these results, it is fundamental to continue monitoring activities to understand if we are facing transient changes or first signals of an imminent trend.

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Toward community predictions: Multi‐scale modelling of mountain breeding birds' habitat suitability, landscape preferences, and environmental drivers

Tehrani

Naimi

Jaboyedoff

2020

Ecology and Evolution

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Across a large mountain area of the western Swiss Alps, we used occurrence data (presence‐only points) of bird species to find suitable modelling solutions and build reliable distribution maps to deal with biodiversity and conservation necessities of bird species at finer scales. We have performed a multi‐scale method of modelling, which uses distance, climatic, and focal variables at different scales (neighboring window sizes), to estimate the efficient scale of each environmental predictor and enhance our knowledge on how birds interact with their complex environment. To identify the best radius for each focal variable and the most efficient impact scale of each predictor, we have fitted univariate models per species. In the last step, the final set of variables were subsequently employed to build ensemble of small models (ESMs) at a fine spatial resolution of 100 m and generate species distribution maps as tools of conservation. We could build useful habitat suitability models for the three groups of species in the national red list. Our results indicate that, in general, the most important variables were in the group of bioclimatic variables including “Bio11” (Mean Temperature of Coldest Quarter), and “Bio 4” (Temperature Seasonality), then in the focal variables including “Forest”, “Orchard”, and “Agriculture area” as potential foraging, feeding and nesting sites. Our distribution maps are useful for identifying the most threatened species and their habitat and also for improving conservation effort to locate bird hotspots. It is a powerful strategy to improve the ecological understanding of the distribution of bird species in a dynamic heterogeneous environment.

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Can the effect of species ecological traits on birds' altitudinal changes differ between geographic areas?

Cited by 11 publications

References 73 publications

Winners and losers: How the elevational range of breeding birds on Alps has varied over the past four decades due to climate and habitat changes

Winners and losers: How the elevational range of breeding birds on Alps has varied over the past four decades due to climate and habitat changes

Butterfly distribution along altitudinal gradients: temporal changes over a short time period

Toward community predictions: Multi‐scale modelling of mountain breeding birds' habitat suitability, landscape preferences, and environmental drivers

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