416: Using species’ traits to improve extinction risk assessments

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Presenter(s)

Minali Bhatt, Erik Ralston

Abstract or Description

Biodiversity has been declining exponentially over the past century due to global changes, including climate and land-use change. Montane forests of Central and South America are especially susceptible to biodiversity loss, because they are inhabited by many specialized species. Fruit-eating or frugivorous birds are dependent on specific dietary and habitat requirements, decreasing their ability to adapt in the face of a changing environment and worsening the impact of threats on species’ populations. Many species are unable to track the changes in climate, which is compounded by lagging changes in forest distributions, rendering sensitive bird species unable to move to regions that fulfill their habitat requirements. This project aims to understand the relationship between Neotropical montane bird species’ traits and vulnerability to extinction. For these species, we quantified correlations between the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List extinction threat and trait data on diet breadth, habitat, body size, range size, and generation time. This knowledge could be used to predict species at risk in the future, and aid in classifying threats to data deficient species. When combined with information on threats to species, the results of this study will identify traits that may indicate increased susceptibility to extinction, informing extinction risk assessments and improving predictions for global change impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functions.