Are range-size distributions consistent with species-level heritability?

The concept of species-level heritability is widely contested. Because it is most likely to apply to emergent, species-level traits, one of the central discussions has focused on the potential heritability of geographic range size. However, a central argument against range-size heritability has been that it is not compatible with the observed shape of present-day species range-size distributions (SRDs), a claim that has never been tested. To assess this claim, we used forward simulation of range-size evolution in clades with varying degrees of range-size heritability, and compared the output of three different models to the range-size distribution of the South American avifauna. Although there were differences among the models, a moderate-to-high degree of range-size heritability consistently leads to SRDs that were similar to empirical data. These results suggest that range-size heritability can generate realistic SRDs, and may play an important role in shaping observed patterns of range sizes. © 2012 The Author(s). Evolution © 2012 The Society for the Study of Evolution

Adaptive radiation and the evolution of nectarivory in a large songbird clade

The accumulation of exceptional ecological diversity within a lineage is a key feature of adaptive radiation resulting from diversification associated with the subdivision of previously underutilized resources. The invasion of unoccupied niche space is predicted to be a key determinant of adaptive diversification, and this process may be particularly important if the diversity of competing lineages within the area, in which the radiation unfolds, is already high. Here, we test whether the evolution of nectarivory resulted in significantly higher rates of morphological evolution, more extensive morphological disparity, and a heightened build‐up of sympatric species diversity in a large adaptive radiation of passerine birds (the honeyeaters, about 190 species) that have diversified extensively throughout continental and insular settings. We find that a large increase in rates of body size evolution and general expansion in morphological space followed an ancestral shift to nectarivory, enabling the build‐up of large numbers of co‐occurring species that vary greatly in size, compared to related and co‐distributed nonnectarivorous clades. These results strongly support the idea that evolutionary shifts into novel areas of niche space play a key role in promoting adaptive radiation in the presence of likely competing lineages

Distance and Regional Effects on the Value of Wild Bee Conservation

Many wild bee species are threatened across Europe, and with them the pollination function they provide. While numerous studies have assessed the value of bees as pollinators of crops, little is known about the non-marked value of bees. Using a choice modelling experiment, we examine these non-market values in Germany by identifying citizens’ willingness to pay (WTP) for wild bee conservation initiatives in four states. Effects of distance, state and regional affiliation are scrutinised, as previous research found these to affect respondents’ choices. Random parameter logit and latent class models are used to capture preference heterogeneity. Overall, we find strong support of wild bee conservation and a clear preference for improvement relative to the status quo, particularly in natural areas and for rare or endangered species. The yearly WTP for conservation initiatives ranges from 227 to 447€ per household. Our results show distance and regional effects on WTP. Initiatives in respondents’ home states are preferred, and increasing distance to initiatives in other states result in a slightly reduced WTP. Additionally, we observe regional preferences within an eastern and a western home region. These preferences are not explainable by socio-demographic characteristics, home state or distance and probably linked to social and cultural affiliations. We conclude that for widespread support in society and effective conservation initiatives, policy proposals must address this spatial heterogeneity from distance and regional effects. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their extensive and valuable comments on this manuscript. The authors would further like to thank Julian Sagebiel from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences for his support in the analysis of the survey data. They thank Alice Rogowski, Bennet Bergmann, Helena Leinweber, Jan Peters, Jean Paul Moreaux, Thomas Prossliner, as well as the focus groups participants for their valuable comments on the early version of the questionnaire. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. C.M., B.D. and C.R. thank the Danish National Research Foundation for its support of the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate (Grant No. DNRF96)

Vegetation structure from LiDAR explains the local richness of birds across Denmark

Classic ecological research into the determinants of biodiversity patterns emphasised the important role of three‐dimensional (3D) vegetation heterogeneity. Yet, measuring vegetation structure across large areas has historically been difficult. A growing focus on large‐scale research questions has caused local vegetation heterogeneity to be overlooked compared with more readily accessible habitat metrics from, for example, land cover maps. Using newly available 3D vegetation data, we investigated the relative importance of habitat and vegetation heterogeneity for explaining patterns of bird species richness and composition across Denmark (42,394 km$^{2}$). We used standardised, repeated point counts of birds conducted by volunteers across Denmark alongside metrics of habitat availability from land‐cover maps and vegetation structure from rasterised LiDAR data (10 m resolution). We used random forest models to relate species richness to environmental features and considered trait‐specific responses by grouping species by nesting behaviour, habitat preference and primary lifestyle. Finally, we evaluated the role of habitat and vegetation heterogeneity metrics in explaining local bird assemblage composition. Overall, vegetation structure was equally as important as habitat availability for explaining bird richness patterns. However, we did not find a consistent positive relationship between species richness and habitat or vegetation heterogeneity; instead, functional groups displayed individual responses to habitat features. Meanwhile, habitat availability had the strongest correlation with the patterns of bird assemblage composition. Our results show how LiDAR and land cover data complement one another to provide insights into different facets of biodiversity patterns and demonstrate the potential of combining remote sensing and structured citizen science programmes for biodiversity research. With the growing coverage of LiDAR surveys, we are witnessing a revolution of highly detailed 3D data that will allow us to integrate vegetation heterogeneity into studies at large spatial extents and advance our understanding of species' physical niches

Determinants Of Bird Species Richness, Endemism, And Island Network Roles In Wallacea And The West Indies: Is Geography Sufficient Or Does Current And Historical Climate Matter?

Island biogeography has greatly contributed to our understanding of the processes determining species' distributions. Previous research has focused on the effects of island geography (i.e., island area, elevation, and isolation) and current climate as drivers of island species richness and endemism. Here, we evaluate the potential additional effects of historical climate on breeding land bird richness and endemism in Wallacea and the West Indies. Furthermore, on the basis of species distributions, we identify island biogeographical network roles and examine their association with geography, current and historical climate, and bird richness/endemism. We found that island geography, especially island area but also isolation and elevation, largely explained the variation in island species richness and endemism. Current and historical climate only added marginally to our understanding of the distribution of species on islands, and this was idiosyncratic to each archipelago. In the West Indies, endemic richness was slightly reduced on islands with historically unstable climates; weak support for the opposite was found in Wallacea. In both archipelagos, large islands with many endemics and situated far from other large islands had high importance for the linkage within modules, indicating that these islands potentially act as speciation pumps and source islands for surrounding smaller islands within the module and, thus, define the biogeographical modules. Large islands situated far from the mainland and/or with a high number of nonendemics acted as links between modules. Additionally, in Wallacea, but not in the West Indies, climatically unstable islands tended to interlink biogeographical modules. The weak and idiosyncratic effect of historical climate on island richness, endemism, and network roles indicates that historical climate had little effects on extinction-immigration dynamics. This is in contrast to the strong effect of historical climate observed on the mainland, possibly because surrounding oceans buffer against strong climate oscillations and because geography is a strong determinant of island richness, endemism and network roles. We evaluate the potential additional effects of historical climate on native breeding land bird species richness, endemism and island network roles in Wallacea and the West Indies. We find that island geography, especially island area but also isolation and elevation, largely explained the variation in island species richness and endemism, and that island network roles are tightly linked to geography and endemism. The weak and idiosyncratic effect of historical climate on island richness, endemism and network roles indicates that historical climate had little effects on extinction-immigration dynamics in Wallacea and the West Indies. This is in contrast to the strong effect of historical climate observed on the mainland, possibly because surrounding oceans buffer against strong climate oscillations and because geography is a strong determinant of island richness, endemism and network roles

Changes in the functional diversity of modern bird species over the last million years

Despite evidence of declining biosphere integrity, we currently lack understanding of how the functional diversity associated with changes in abundance among ecological communities has varied over time and before widespread human disturbances. We combine morphological, ecological, and life-history trait data for >260 extant bird species with genomic-based estimates of changing effective population size (Ne) to quantify demographic-based shifts in avian functional diversity over the past million years and under pre-anthropogenic climate warming. We show that functional diversity was relatively stable over this period, but underwent significant changes in some key areas of trait space due to changing species abundances. Our results suggest that patterns of population decline over the Pleistocene have been concentrated in particular regions of trait space associated with extreme reproductive strategies and low dispersal ability, consistent with an overall erosion of functional diversity. Further, species most sensitive to climate warming occupied a relatively narrow region of functional space, indicating that the largest potential population increases and decreases under climate change will occur among species with relatively similar trait sets. Overall, our results identify fluctuations in functional space of extant species over evolutionary timescales and represent the demographic-based vulnerability of different regions of functional space among these taxa. The integration of paleodemographic dynamics with functional trait data enhances our ability to quantify losses of biosphere integrity before anthropogenic disturbances and attribute contemporary biodiversity loss to different drivers over time

Trait evolution, resource specialization and vulnerability to plant extinctions among Antillean hummingbirds

Species traits are thought to predict feeding specialization and the vulnerability of a species to extinctions of interaction partners, but the context in which a species evolved and currently inhabits may also matter. Notably, the predictive power of traits may require that traits evolved to fit interaction partners. Furthermore, local abiotic and biotic conditions may be important. On islands, for instance, specialized and vulnerable species are predicted to be found mainly in mountains, whereas species in lowlands should be generalized and less vulnerable. We evaluated these predictions for hummingbirds and their nectar-food plants on Antillean islands. Our results suggest that the rates of hummingbird trait divergence were higher among ancestral mainland forms before the colonization of the Antilles. In correspondence with the limited trait evolution that occurred within the Antilles, local abiotic and biotic conditions—not species traits—correlate with hummingbird resource specialization and the vulnerability of hummingbirds to extinctions of their floral resources. Specifically, hummingbirds were more specialized and vulnerable in conditions with high topographical complexity, high rainfall, low temperatures and high floral resource richness, which characterize the Antillean Mountains. These findings show that resource specialization and species vulnerability to extinctions of interaction partners are highly context-dependent.B.D., J.D.K., A.C.B., A.M.M.G. and C.R. thank the Danish National Research Foundation for its support of the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate (grant no. DNRF96). P.K.M. thanks the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) for the postdoctoral grant (grant no. 2015/21457-4). B.I.S. was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council as part of the Cambridge Earth System Science NERC DTP (NE/L002507/1)