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6 - Climate Change Impacts on Mountain Birds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2023

By
James W. Pearce-Higgins  and
Kathy Martin
Edited by
Dan Chamberlain ,
Aleksi Lehikoinen  and
Kathy Martin
Dan Chamberlain
Affiliation:
University of Turin
Aleksi Lehikoinen
Affiliation:
Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki
Kathy Martin
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
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Summary

We review evidence for whether and why mountain birds are potentially more vulnerable to climate change than birds at low elevation, given current knowledge of the avian limits to physiological and environmental conditions. The observed impacts of climate change on bird populations, communities and distributions in mountain environments are limited.  We summarise these responses and provide an assessment of the main mechanisms that might underpin those changes, such as changes in climate (temperature, precipitation, snow cover extent), and biotic drivers (phenology/food mismatch, prey/predator populations, shifting treelines). The potential future impacts of climate anticipated in mountain environments, considering the vulnerability of montane species and the likelihood of increasing upslope colonisation by species that currently occupy lower elevations, are considered, including a comparison between the observed and projected impacts where available.  Finally, we discuss potential conservation actions for mountain birds in the face of climate change.  Are there ways that the management of these habitats can be altered to either help vulnerable species resist negative impacts, or to facilitate more positive changes in response to climate change? We conclude by summarising anticipated avifaunal community composition and function in these mountain environments by the end of the century.

Keywords

Breeding phenology impactsclimate refugiaconservation strategiesecological impactsfuture vulnerabilitiesglobal environmental changemountain climatesnon-breeding season impactsspecies distribution shiftstemperature and precipitation anomalies
Type
Chapter
Information
Ecology and Conservation of Mountain Birds , pp. 215 - 259
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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