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Jirinec V, Burner RC, Amaral BR, Bierregaard RO, Fernández-Arellano G, Hernández-Palma A, Johnson EI, Lovejoy TE, Powell LL, Rutt CL, Wolfe JD, Stouffer PC. Morphological consequences of climate change for resident birds in intact Amazonian rainforest. Sci Adv 2021; 7:eabk1743. [PMID: 34767440 PMCID: PMC8589309 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abk1743] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2021] [Accepted: 09/16/2021] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Warming from climate change is expected to reduce body size of endotherms, but studies from temperate systems have produced equivocal results. Over four decades, we collected morphometric data on a nonmigratory understory bird community within Amazonian primary rainforest that is experiencing increasingly extreme climate. All 77 species showed lower mean mass since the early 1980s—nearly half with 95% confidence. A third of species concomitantly increased wing length, driving a decrease in mass:wing ratio for 69% of species. Seasonal precipitation patterns were generally better than temperature at explaining morphological variation. Short-term climatic conditions affected all metrics, but time trends in wing and mass:wing remained robust even after controlling for annual seasonal conditions. We attribute these results to pressures to increase resource economy under warming. Both seasonal and long-term morphological shifts suggest response to climate change and highlight its pervasive consequences, even in the heart of the world’s largest rainforest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vitek Jirinec
- School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University and LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
- Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
| | - Ryan C. Burner
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 1435 Aas, Norway
| | - Bruna R. Amaral
- Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
- Department of Ecology, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
- Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Richard O. Bierregaard
- Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
| | - Gilberto Fernández-Arellano
- Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
- Department of Ecology, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
- Departamento de Botânica e Ecologia, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, Brazil
| | - Angélica Hernández-Palma
- School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University and LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
- Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
- Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Avenida Paseo Bolívar 16-20, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Erik I. Johnson
- School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University and LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
- Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
- National Audubon Society, 5615 Corporate Blvd., Baton Rouge, LA 70808, USA
| | - Thomas E. Lovejoy
- Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
| | - Luke L. Powell
- School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University and LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
- Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
- CIBIO-InBIO, Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, University of Porto, Campus de Vairão, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
- Biodiversity Initiative, Houghton, MI 49931, USA
| | - Cameron L. Rutt
- School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University and LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
- Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
- Department of Biology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
| | - Jared D. Wolfe
- School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University and LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
- Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
- Biodiversity Initiative, Houghton, MI 49931, USA
- College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931, USA
| | - Philip C Stouffer
- School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University and LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
- Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
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