COS 144-6 - Global Patterns of Climate Change Impacts to Desert Bird Communities

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

11:15 AM – 11:30 AM EDT

Location: 513C

Presenting Author(s)

Liang Ma

Associate Research Scholar
Princeton University
Princeton, New Jersey, United States

Slides (PDF)

Coauthor(s)

RS

Rebecca A. Senior

Duhram University
Sheffield, United Kingdom
CC

Christopher L. Crawford

Postgraduate Research Associate
Princeton University
Princeton, New Jersey, United States
CM

Chun-Rong Mi

Chinese Academy of Sciences, China (People's Republic)
DW

David S. Wilcove

Professor
Princeton University, United States

Background/Question/Methods

The world’s warm deserts are predicted to experience disproportionately large temperature increases due to climate change, yet the impacts on desert biodiversity are poorly known. Because species in warm deserts live close to their physiological limits, additional warming may induce local extinctions. We combined climate change projections with physiological models and species distributions to predict physiological impacts of climate change on desert birds globally.

Results/Conclusions

Our results show considerable heterogeneity between and within warm deserts. Moreover, spatial patterns of physiological impacts do not simply mirror patterns of temperature change. Climate change refugia, defined as warm desert areas with high avian diversity and low predicted physiological impacts, are predicted to persist in varying amounts in different desert realms. Alarmingly, < 25% of refugia area falls within existing protected areas. Our analysis highlights the need to increase protection of key areas within the world’s warm deserts to protect species from climate change.