The combined effects of temperature and fragment area on the demographic rates of an Afrotropical bird community over 34 years.

ABSTRACT: Habitat fragmentation and climate change are two of the greatest threats to biodiversity, yet their combined impacts and potential interactions are poorly understood, particularly in the context of demographic rates. The Usambara Mountains, Tanzania, comprise a highly fragmented landscape where temperatures have increased by 0.58 °C over the last three decades. Here, we used a 34-year bird banding dataset from 14 forest fragments (0.2-908 ha) to examine the combined effects of fragment area and mean annual temperature on the demographic rates of 24 understory bird species. The population growth rates of two-thirds of species were negatively associated with at least one of the stressors, and, overall, population growth rates were 12-20 % lower in the warmest year compared to the coolest yea

SUBMITTER: Neate-Clegg MHC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11406459 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature