Land-use change undermines the stability of avian functional diversity.

ABSTRACT: Land-use change causes widespread shifts in the composition and functional diversity of species assemblages. However, its impact on ecosystem resilience remains uncertain. The stability of ecosystem functioning may increase after land-use change because the most sensitive species are removed, which leaves more resilient survivors^1-3. Alternatively, ecosystems may be destabilized if land-use change reduces functional redundancy, which accentuates the ecological impacts of further species loss^4,5. Current evidence is inconclusive, partly because trait data have not been available to quantify functional stability at sufficient scale. Here we use morphological measurements of 3,696 bird species to estimate shifts in functional redundancy after recent anthropogenic land-us

SUBMITTER: Weeks TL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12779574 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature