Disentangling direct and indirect effects of water availability, vegetation, and topography on avian diversity.

ABSTRACT: Climate is a major driver of species diversity. However, its effect can be either direct due to species physiological tolerances or indirect, whereby wetter climates facilitate more complex vegetation and consequently higher diversity due to greater resource availability. Yet, studies quantifying both direct and indirect effects of climate on multiple dimensions of diversity are rare. We used extensive data on species distributions, morphological and ecological traits, and vegetation across Australia to quantify both direct (water availability) and indirect (habitat diversity and canopy height) effects of climate on the species richness (SR), phylogenetic diversity (PD), and functional diversity (FD) of 536 species of birds. Path analyses revealed that SR increased with wetter climates thr

SUBMITTER: Remes V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6195560 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature