Projected changes in distributions of Australian tropical savanna birds under climate change using three dispersal scenarios.

ABSTRACT: Identifying the species most vulnerable to extinction as a result of climate change is a necessary first step in mitigating biodiversity decline. Species distribution modeling (SDM) is a commonly used tool to assess potential climate change impacts on distributions of species. We use SDMs to predict geographic ranges for 243 birds of Australian tropical savannas, and to project changes in species richness and ranges under a future climate scenario between 1990 and 2080. Realistic predictions require recognition of the variability in species capacity to track climatically suitable environments. Here we assess the effect of dispersal on model results by using three approaches: full dispersal, no dispersal and a partial-dispersal scenario permitting species to track climate change at a rate o

SUBMITTER: Reside AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3399193 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature