Natural barriers could stop African birds winging it away from climate change. A new large-scale study finds that features such as rough mountain terrain and the borderlines between grassland and jungle are more important than temperature in limiting species' ranges.
Lynsey McInnes and colleagues at Imperial College, London, examined the ranges of all 2,075 terrestrial bird species in the African tropics and found that their range boundaries fall in clusters. Ranges tend to end in heterogeneous environments with steep elevation changes or a variety of landscape types, such as the Eastern Arc Mountains of Kenya and Tanzania or places where central African rainforests give way to savannah. Even the widest-ranging species often seem unable to spread beyond such barriers; many species with tiny ranges make use of specialized niches within them.
The authors say combining information on environmental barriers with projections of African climate change and species ranges could show which birds are most at risk of getting stuck. This could help conservationists plan for assisted migration and other schemes to help sensitive species move on. Consideration also has to be given to the fact that some of the barriers themselves are likely to move as a result of climate change.
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Barnett, A. Exit obstructed. Nature Clim Change 1, 78 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/climate.2009.62
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/climate.2009.62
