Climate impacts on bird and plant communities from altered animal-plant interactions
Nature Climate Change
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Abstract
The contribution of climate change to declining populations of organisms remains a question of outstanding concern. Much attention to declining populations has focused on how changing climate drives phenological mismatches between animals and their food. Effects of climate on plant communities may provide an alternative, but particularly powerful, influence on animal populations because plants provide their habitats. Here, we show that abundances of deciduous trees and associated songbirds have declined with decreasing snowfall over 22 years of study in montane Arizona, USA. We experimentally tested the hypothesis that declining snowfall indirectly influences plants and associated birds by allowing greater over-winter herbivory by elk (Cervus canadensis). We excluded elk from one of two paired snowmelt drainages (10 ha per drainage), and replicated this paired experiment across three distant canyons. Over six years, we reversed multi-decade declines in plant and bird populations by experimentally inhibiting heavy winter herbivory associated with declining snowfall. Moreover, predation rates on songbird nests decreased in exclosures, despite higher abundances of nest predators, demonstrating the over-riding importance of habitat quality to avian recruitment. Thus, our results suggest that climate impacts on plant–animal interactions can have forceful ramifying effects on plants, birds, and ecological interactions.
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Climate impacts on bird and plant communities from altered animal-plant interactions |
| Series title | Nature Climate Change |
| DOI | 10.1038/nclimate1348 |
| Volume | 2 |
| Year Published | 2012 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| Publisher location | London, U.K. |
| Contributing office(s) | Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit |
| Description | 6 p. |
| Larger Work Type | Article |
| Larger Work Subtype | Journal Article |
| Larger Work Title | Nature Climate Change |
| First page | 195 |
| Last page | 200 |
| Country | United States |
| State | Arizona |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |