Structure, function and resilience of avian communities in tropical ecosystems

Lead Research Organisation: University of Oxford
Department Name: Zoology

Abstract

The study of biodiversity and its role in natural ecosystems is an urgent priority because the Earth is facing unprecedentedly rapid changes in climate and land-use. These changes will be felt most acutely in tropical regions, not only because they are set to experience the biggest increase in human population, habitat loss and economic development, but also because they support the vast majority of species (>80%), many with small ranges and narrow climatic limits, making them vulnerable to extinction. However, partly because of a research bias towards temperate systems, we have a very incomplete understanding of how range shifts and extinctions will affect ecosystem structure and resilience in tropical regions.

Of all tropical biodiversity, vertebrates are the iconic figureheads for conservation. They are central to a range of key ecosystem processes, such as seed dispersal, pollination and predation. The importance of understanding the forces underpinning the structure, function and resilience of their communities is clear, yet the answers remain elusive because of the difficulty of surveying vertebrates. In addition, the coverage of molecular data for vertebrates has until very recently been incomplete.

In this project, we will capitalise on new high-resolution datasets for the best-known group of tropical vertebrates - birds - to test ecological theory at contrasting spatial scales using community phylogenetic approaches. We will use site-based faunal lists gathered throughout the Neotropics in recent decades. We will also use plot-based community and abundance data collected through fieldwork across an elevational gradient in the tropical Andes. These datasets will be coupled with information about ecological niches and functional traits for each species. In all cases analyses will be framed by newly available species-level phylogenies, which have the power to reveal the structure of evolutionary relationships between community members, and uncover the way niches and traits have evolved through time. This will help us to compare communities from sites with differing levels of habitat degradation and fragmentation.

To manage ecosystems effectively we need to understand the mechanisms governing responses to change, and how these changes are likely to influence the ecological function and resilience of communities over time. The main goals of this research are to understand (1) how species from a regional pool are assembled into local communities, (2) how the phylogenetic structure and ecological function of communities varies in relation to climate and human impacts, and (3) how we can apply insights from (1) and (2) to improve methods for ecological forecasting under various global change scenarios. The results will provide a more complete understanding of the forces shaping and regulating biological communities worldwide, and enhance our ability to predict the consequences of environmental change, particularly in tropical systems.

Planned Impact

The UK government, scientists and many national and international NGOs have specific interest in improved understanding of the ecological and evolutionary processes determining range limits and abundance of vertebrates, as well as the implications that those processes have for ecosystem function. This knowledge is a key step to developing effective strategies for managing biodiversity in the context of global change.
Scientists and NGOs will benefit from new information about factors determining the distribution and abundance of species in tropical regions (the epicentre of the current extinction crisis). The results will enable refinement of predictive models of tropical species distributions. They will also help to clarify the extent to which environmental changes impact on ecosystem functioning, and in particular on key ecosystem processes-such as seed dispersal and pollination-that feed into long-term stability and resilience. In addition, they will provide the first information about population density and community interactions for hundreds of tropical bird species, which will directly support IUCN conservation status assessments, and strategic assessments of biodiversity risk.
Policy makers and private sector will benefit from some of the same resources, and from improved methods for mapping and predicting patterns of biodiversity, and long-term ecosystem resilience, aspects with useful applications for channelling Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) and carbon market funding.
Public sector will benefit from high-quality information about environmental science in high-profile ecosystems (Andean and Amazonian forests, the world's most diverse terrestrial biomes).
We will exchange knowledge with scientists via symposia, seminars and meetings, and by publication of peer-reviewed articles, including submissions to top-rank journals. Applications have already been submitted for a symposium titled "Competition and the structure of avian communities" for the Neotropical Ornithology Congress in Cusco, Nov 2011. Five speakers (including project staff) have been arranged, and all relevant parties associated with the Andean transect study are attending.
To engage users from science, NGOs and the private sector, we will run a 2-day meeting co-hosted by the Biodiversity Institute (Zoology Dept., Oxford University) and the Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests (OCTF). All project members will attend, along with members of the Andes Biodiversity & Ecosystem Research Group (ABERG), members of key NGOs, and researchers studying the dynamics of biodiversity in relation to environmental change. We will invite private-sector carbon companies with an interest in channelling carbon offset funding or other carbon finance mechanisms to maximise benefits to biodiversity conservation (e.g. REDD++). The results communicated during the meeting will form the basis for a publication about global change and tropical ecosystems, with the longer-term goal of spearheading collaborative interactions in a global network of studies (mainly UK- and US-based) focused on questions about global change and the management of biodiversity and ecosystem services. We will also exchange knowledge with NGOs directly via our close professional links with RSPB, BirdLife International, IUCN and CI.
To engage with the public sector, we will produce at least one mainstream article and at least one television report of our research. We will also update & develop the ABERG website to provide a range of educational materials for public download, including information about our study plots, and relevant images and sound files. To deliver useful outputs to scientists, as well as to a wider audience, all project data will be accessible through the ABERG website portal, as will printable colour webguides of Andean birds (partly to train fieldworkers and support long-term monitoring programmes, but also useful to the public).
 
Description 1. Specialisation to narrow ecological niches promotes diversification in tropical animals. This helps to explain the latitudinal diversity gradient, and indicates that specialised species have a greater 'speciation potential' particularly in the tropics, i.e. they are likely to produce more species in future.
2. Phylogenetic models reveal that ecologically similar species are unable to co-occur until millions of years after speciation.
3. Competition between species increases after habitat fragmentation, driving some species to extinction.
4. Secondary forests play a greater role in maintaining biodiversity and ecological processes when they are situated adjacent to extensive primary forest.
5. Land sparing agriculture maintains higher levels of functional diversity than land sharing.
6. Functional traits provide a
Exploitation Route Finding (1) focuses conservation attention on species with specialised ecological niches, particularly those with large ranges not otherwise considered priorities for conservation.

Finding (2) radically changes the assumptions of models forecasting the biological impacts of climate change, which generally assume that species ranges can move freely in response to changing climates.

Finding (3) provided information on minimum size requirements for functioning ecosystems in fragmented forests.

Finding (4) provided policy-relevant insights into management of reforestation projects

Finding (5) suggested agricultural land-use practices required to maintain functioning ecosystems.

Finding (7) established both global dataset and approaches required to use functional trait data as a metric of biodiversity linked to ecosystem function
Sectors Agriculture

Food and Drink

Environment

Culture

Heritage

Museums and Collections

URL http://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/vast-avian-database-links-form-to-function
 
Description The morphometric trait aspects of this research has snowballed into a major international enterprise spanning 70+ museums in ~40 countries. This global consortium is pooling resources into a large trait database which will support efforts to digitise and interlink world museum holdings. The outputs are already being used in educational materials by major museums (serving hundreds of millions of public visitors annually) with many additional initiatives underway based on applying the trait database to environmental policy at organisational, national and international levels. I co-organised a meeting of the global traits consortium in Frankfurt in 2018 and a daylong symposium in USA 2019. I have been invited to workshops in Copenhagen and another US conference in 2020, both to develop the online open access database for use by numerous fields in pure and applied science.
First Year Of Impact 2017
Sector Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
Impact Types Societal

Policy & public services

 
Description The avian functional trait database initiated and developed in this project is being explored as a biodiversity metric for setting and monitoring progress towards conservation and management goals. These include evaluating biodiversity for offsetting by industry and a range of other policy applications.
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
Impact Our findings show how functional diversity metrics can be integrated into monitoring and priority-setting programmes, and provide rich datasets for constructing these metrics at local to global scales. These datasets and methods are currently being explored by industry as metrics to assess biodiversity value of landscapes and targets for conservations and mitigation (e.g. off-setting). The longer-term potential of these methods for national and international policy are substantial.
 
Description GCRF: Social and Environmental Trade-offs in African Agriculture
Amount £5,630,400 (GBP)
Funding ID ES/P011306/1 
Organisation Economic and Social Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2017 
End 12/2022
 
Description Human-modified Tropical Forests Programme
Amount £3,200,000 (GBP)
Organisation Natural Environment Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2014 
End 12/2019
 
Title A large-scale assessment of plant dispersal mode and seed traits across human-modified Amazonian forests 
Description 1. Quantifying the impact of habitat disturbance on ecosystem function is critical for understanding and predicting the future of tropical forests. Many studies have examined post-disturbance changes in animal traits related to mutualistic interactions with plants, but the effect of disturbance on plant traits in diverse forests has received much less attention. 2. Focusing on two study regions in the eastern Brazilian Amazon, we used a trait-based approach to examine how seed dispersal functionality within tropical plant communities changes across a landscape-scale gradient of human modification, including both regenerating secondary forests and primary forests disturbed by burning and selective logging. 3. Surveys of 230 forest plots recorded 26,533 live stems from 846 tree species. Using herbarium material and literature, we compiled trait information for each tree species, focusing on dispersal mode and seed size. 4. Disturbance reduced tree diversity and increased the proportion of lower wood-density and smaller-seeded tree species in study plots. Unexpectedly, disturbance also increased the proportion of stems with seeds that are ingested by animals and reduced those dispersed by other mechanisms (e.g. wind). Older secondary forests had functionally similar plant communities to the most heavily disturbed primary forests. 5. Synthesis. Anthropogenic disturbance has major effects on the seed traits of tree communities, with implications for mutualistic interactions with animals. The higher importance of animal-mediated seed dispersal in disturbed and recovering forests highlights the importance of avoiding defaunation or promoting faunal recovery. The changes in mean seed width suggest larger vertebrates hold especially important functional roles in these human-modified forests. Monitoring fruit and seed traits can provide a valuable indicator of ecosystem condition, emphasising the importance of developing a comprehensive plant traits database for the Amazon and other biomes. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2020 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL http://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.kd51c5b2g
 
Title AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds (Tobias et al 2021 Ecology Letters) 
Description The AVONET database contains comprehensive functional trait data for all birds, including six ecological variables, eleven continuous morphological traits, and information on range size and location. Raw morphological measurements are available from 90020 individuals of 11009 extant bird species sampled from 181 countries. These data are also summarised as species averages in three taxonomic formats, allowing integration with a global phylogeny, geographical range maps, IUCN Red List data, and the eBird citizen science database. Code to reproduce the analyses and figures presented in Tobias et al 2021 "AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds" Ecology Letters, is also included. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/AVONET_morphological_ecological_and_geographical_data_for_all_...
 
Title AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds (Tobias et al 2021 Ecology Letters) 
Description The AVONET database contains comprehensive functional trait data for all birds, including six ecological variables, eleven continuous morphological traits, and information on range size and location. Raw morphological measurements are available from 90020 individuals of 11009 extant bird species sampled from 181 countries. These data are also summarised as species averages in three taxonomic formats, allowing integration with a global phylogeny, geographical range maps, IUCN Red List data, and the eBird citizen science database. Code to reproduce the analyses and figures presented in Tobias et al 2021 "AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds" Ecology Letters, is also included. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/AVONET_morphological_ecological_and_geographical_data_for_all_...
 
Title AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds (Tobias et al 2022 Ecology Letters doi: https://doi.org/10.111/ele.13898) 
Description The AVONET database contains comprehensive functional trait data for all birds, including six ecological variables, eleven continuous morphological traits, and information on range size and location. Raw morphological measurements are available from 90020 individuals of 11009 extant bird species sampled from 181 countries. These data are also summarised as species averages in three taxonomic formats, allowing integration with a global phylogeny, geographical range maps, IUCN Red List data, and the eBird citizen science database. Code to reproduce the analyses and figures presented in Tobias et al 2022 "AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds" Ecology Letters, is also included. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/AVONET_morphological_ecological_and_geographical_data_for_all_...
 
Title AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds (Tobias et al 2022 Ecology Letters doi: https://doi.org/10.111/ele.13898) 
Description The AVONET database contains comprehensive functional trait data for all birds, including six ecological variables, eleven continuous morphological traits, and information on range size and location. Raw morphological measurements are available from 90020 individuals of 11009 extant bird species sampled from 181 countries. These data are also summarised as species averages in three taxonomic formats, allowing integration with a global phylogeny, geographical range maps, IUCN Red List data, and the eBird citizen science database. Code to reproduce the analyses and figures presented in Tobias et al 2022 "AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds" Ecology Letters, is also included. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/AVONET_morphological_ecological_and_geographical_data_for_all_...
 
Title Appendix S2 from Flight range, fuel load and the impact of climate change on the journeys of migrant birds 
Description Species biometric data 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://rs.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Appendix_S2_from_Flight_range_fuel_load_and_the_impact_of_c...
 
Title Appendix S2 from Flight range, fuel load and the impact of climate change on the journeys of migrant birds. 
Description Species biometric data 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://rs.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Appendix_S2_from_Flight_range_fuel_load_and_the_impact_of_c...
 
Title Appendix S2 from Flight range, fuel load and the impact of climate change on the journeys of migrant birds. 
Description Species biometric data 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://rs.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Appendix_S2_from_Flight_range_fuel_load_and_the_impact_of_c...
 
Title Appendix S3 from Flight range, fuel load and the impact of climate change on the journeys of migrant birds 
Description Migration model simulation data 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://rs.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Appendix_S3_from_Flight_range_fuel_load_and_the_impact_of_c...
 
Title Appendix S3 from Flight range, fuel load and the impact of climate change on the journeys of migrant birds. 
Description Migration model simulation data 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://rs.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Appendix_S3_from_Flight_range_fuel_load_and_the_impact_of_c...
 
Title Appendix S3 from Flight range, fuel load and the impact of climate change on the journeys of migrant birds. 
Description Migration model simulation data 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://rs.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Appendix_S3_from_Flight_range_fuel_load_and_the_impact_of_c...
 
Title Data from: Behavior influences range limits and patterns of coexistence across an elevational gradient in tropical birds 
Description Does competition influence patterns of coexistence between closely related taxa? Here we address this question by analyzing patterns of range overlap between related species of birds ("sister pairs") co-occurring on a tropical elevational gradient. We explicitly contrast the behavioral dimension of interspecific competition (interference competition) with similarity in resource acquisition traits (exploitative competition). Specifically, we ask whether elevational range overlap in 118 sister pairs that live along the Manu Transect in southeastern Peru is predicted by proxies for competition (intraspecific territorial behavior) or niche divergence (beak divergence and divergence times, an estimate of evolutionary age). We find that close relatives that defend year-round territories tend to live in non-overlapping elevational distributions, while close relatives that do not defend territories tend to broadly overlap in elevational distribution. In contrast, neither beak divergence nor evolutionary age was associated with patterns of range limitation. We interpret these findings as evidence that behavioral interactions?particularly direct territorial aggression?can be important in setting elevational range limits and preventing coexistence of closely related species, though this depends upon the extent to which intraspecific territorial behavior can be extended to territorial interactions between species. Our results suggest that interference competition can be an important driver of species range limits in diverse assemblages, and thus highlight the importance of considering behavioral dimensions of the niche in macroecological studies. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.s786348
 
Title Data from: Can avian functional traits predict cultural ecosystem services? 
Description The functional trait diversity of species assemblages can predict the provision of ecosystem services such as pollination and carbon sequestration, but it is unclear whether the same trait-based framework can be applied to identify the factors that underpin cultural ecosystem services and disservices. To explore the relationship between traits and the contribution of species to cultural ecosystem services and disservices, we conducted 404 questionnaire surveys with birdwatchers and local residents in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. We used an information-theoretic approach to identify which of 20 functional traits for 199 Costa Rican bird species best predicted their cultural ecosystem service scores related to birdwatching, acoustic aesthetics, education and local identity, as well as disservices (e.g., harm to crops). We found that diet was the most important variable explaining perceptions of cultural ecosystem service and disservice providers. Aesthetic traits such as plumage colour and pattern were important in explaining birdwatching scores. We also found people have a high affinity for forest-affiliated birds. The insight that functional traits can explain variation among cultural perspectives on values derived from birds offers a first step towards a trait-based system for understanding the species attributes that underpin cultural ecosystem services and disservices. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
 
Title Data from: Connectivity with primary forest determines the value of secondary tropical forests for bird conservation 
Description Predicted species extinctions caused by the destruction and degradation of tropical primary forest may be at least partially mitigated by the expansion of regenerating secondary forest. However, the conservation value of secondary forest remains controversial, and potentially underestimated, since most previous studies have focused on young, single-aged, or isolated stands. Here we use point count surveys to compare tropical forest bird communities in 20-120-yr-old secondary forest and primary forest stands in central Panama, with varying connectivity between secondary forest sites and extensive primary forest. We found that species richness and other metrics of ecological diversity, as well as the combined population density of all birds, reached a peak in younger (20-yr-old) secondary forests, and appeared to decline in older secondary forest stands. This counter-intuitive result can be explained by the greater connectivity between younger secondary forests and extensive primary forests at our study site, compared with older secondary forests that are either (1) more isolated, or (2) connected to primary forests that are themselves small and isolated. Our results suggest that connectivity with extensive primary forest is a more important determinant of avian species richness and community structure than forest age, and highlight the vital contribution secondary forests can make in conserving tropical bird diversity, so long as extensive primary habitats are adjacent and spatially connected. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.77m6100
 
Title Data from: Contrasting impacts of land use change on phylogenetic and functional diversity of tropical forest birds 
Description 1.Biodiversity conservation strategies increasingly target maintaining evolutionary history and the resilience of ecosystem function, not just species richness (SR). This has led to the emergence of two metrics commonly proposed as tools for decision making: phylogenetic diversity (PD) and functional diversity (FD). Yet the extent to which they are interchangeable remains poorly understood. 2.We explore shifts in and relationships between FD and PD of bird communities across a disturbance gradient in Borneo, from old-growth tropical forest to oil palm plantation. 3.We show a marked decline in PD, and an increase in phylogenetic mean nearest taxon distance (MNTD) from forest to oil palm, in line with declining SR across the gradient. However, phylogenetic mean pairwise distance (MPD) is constrained by forest logging more than by conversion to oil palm, taking account of SR. 4.The decline in FD across the gradient is less severe than in PD, with all metrics indicating relatively high trait diversity in oil palm despite low SR, although functional redundancy is much reduced. Accounting for SR, levels of functional over- or under-dispersion of bird communities are strongly coupled to habitat disturbance level rather than to any equivalent phylogenetic metric. 5.Policy Implications. We suggest that while phylogenetic diversity (PD) is an improvement on species richness as a proxy for functional diversity (FD), conservation decisions based on PD alone cannot reliably safeguard maximal FD. Thus, PD and FD are related but still complementary. Priority setting exercises should use these metrics in combination to identify conservation targets. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.3tk7g
 
Title Data from: Energetic constraints on species coexistence in birds 
Description The association between species richness and ecosystem energy availability is one of the major geographic trends in biodiversity. It is often explained in terms of energetic constraints, such that coexistence among competing species is limited in low productivity environments. However, it has proven challenging to reject alternative views, including the null hypothesis that species richness has simply had more time to accumulate in productive regions, and thus the role of energetic constraints in limiting coexistence remains largely unknown. We use the phylogenetic relationships and geographic ranges of sister species (pairs of lineages who are each other's closest extant relatives) to examine the association between energy availability and coexistence across an entire vertebrate class (Aves). We show that the incidence of coexistence among sister species increases with overall species richness and is elevated in more productive ecosystems, even when accounting for differences in the evolutionary time available for coexistence to occur. Our results indicate that energy availability promotes species coexistence in closely related lineages, providing a key step toward a more mechanistic understanding of the productivity-richness relationship underlying global gradients in biodiversity. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.q9m45
 
Title Data from: Multi-modal signal evolution in birds: re-examining a standard proxy for sexual selection 
Description Sexual selection is proposed to be an important driver of speciation and phenotypic diversification in animal systems. However, previous phylogenetic tests have produced conflicting results, perhaps because they have focused on a single signalling modality (visual ornaments), whereas sexual selection may act on alternative signalling modalities (e.g. acoustic ornaments). Here we compile phenotypic data from 259 avian sister species pairs to assess the relationship between visible plumage dichromatism-a standard index of sexual selection in birds-and macroevolutionary divergence in the other major avian signalling modality: song. We find evidence for a strong negative relationship between the degree of plumage dichromatism and divergence in song traits, which remains significant even when accounting for other key factors, including habitat type, ecological divergence and interspecific interactions. This negative relationship is opposite to the pattern expected by a straightforward interpretation of the sexual selection-diversification hypothesis, whereby higher levels of dichromatism indicating strong sexual selection should be related to greater levels of mating signal divergence regardless of signalling modality. Our findings imply a 'trade-off' between the elaboration of visual ornaments and the diversification of acoustic mating signals, and suggest that the effects of sexual selection on diversification can only be determined by considering multiple alternative signalling modalities. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.b4p43t7
 
Title Data from: Quantifying species contributions to ecosystem processes: a global assessment of functional trait and phylogenetic metrics across avian seed-dispersal networks 
Description Quantifying the role of biodiversity in ecosystems not only requires understanding the links between species and the ecological functions and services they provide, but also how these factors relate to measurable indices, such as functional traits and phylogenetic diversity. However, these relationships remain poorly understood, especially for heterotrophic organisms within complex ecological networks. Here, we assemble data on avian traits across a global sample of mutualistic plant-frugivore networks to critically assess how the functional roles of frugivores are associated with their intrinsic traits, as well as their evolutionary and functional distinctiveness. We find strong evidence for niche complementarity, with phenotypically and phylogenetically distinct birds interacting with more unique sets of plants. However, interaction strengths-the number of plant species dependent on a frugivore-were unrelated to evolutionary or functional distinctiveness, largely because distinct frugivores tend to be locally rare, and thus have fewer connections across the network. Instead, interaction strengths were better predicted by intrinsic traits, including body size, gape width and dietary specialization. Our analysis provides general support for the use of traits in quantifying species ecological functions, but also highlights the need to go beyond simple metrics of functional or phylogenetic diversity to consider the multiple pathways through which traits may determine ecological processes. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2016 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.2br2b
 
Title Ecological Trait Data from Dietary niche and the evolution of cranial morphology in birds 
Description Dietary and Foraging Behavior Data 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://rs.figshare.com/articles/Ecological_Trait_Data_from_Dietary_niche_and_the_evolution_of_crani...
 
Title Ecological Trait Data from Dietary niche and the evolution of cranial morphology in birds 
Description Dietary and Foraging Behavior Data 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://rs.figshare.com/articles/Ecological_Trait_Data_from_Dietary_niche_and_the_evolution_of_crani...
 
Title Fragmented communities database 
Description Lists of bird species occurring in forest fragments worldwide, generated from literature review. This links with the Global Bird Database to allow tests of functional responses to habitat fragmentation. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2013 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Two papers published so far. Bregman et al. 2014 Biological Conservation, and Bregman et al. in press Ecology 
 
Title Global Bird Database 
Description Large compilation of data for all (>10,000) bird species worldwide covering life history, environmental variables, biometrics, functional traits, etc. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2013 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact None as yet but several collaborations underway 
 
Title Supplementary Database from Integrating behaviour and ecology into global biodiversity conservation strategies 
Description Insights into animal behaviour play an increasingly central role in species-focused conservation practice. However, progress towards incorporating behaviour into regional or global conservation strategies has been more limited, not least because standardized datasets of behavioural traits are generally lacking at wider taxonomic or spatial scales. Here we make use of the recent expansion of global datasets for birds to assess the prospects for including behavioural traits in systematic conservation priority-setting and monitoring programmes. Using International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List classifications for more than 9500 bird species, we show that the incidence of threat can vary substantially across different behavioural categories, and that some types of behaviour-including particular foraging, mating and migration strategies-are significantly more threatened than others. The link between behavioural traits and extinction risk is partly driven by correlations with well-established geographical and ecological factors (e.g. range size, body mass, human population pressure), but our models also reveal that behaviour modifies the effect of these factors, helping to explain broad-scale patterns of extinction risk. Overall, these results suggest that a multi-species approach at the scale of communities, continents and ecosystems can be used to identify and monitor threatened behaviours, and to flag up cases of latent extinction risk, where threatened status may currently be underestimated. Our findings also highlight the importance of comprehensive standardized descriptive data for ecological and behavioural traits, and point the way towards deeper integration of behaviour into quantitative conservation assessments.This article is part of the theme issue 'Linking behaviour to dynamics of populations and communities: application of novel approaches in behavioural ecology to conservation'. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://rs.figshare.com/articles/Supplementary_Database_from_Integrating_behaviour_and_ecology_into_...
 
Title Supplementary Database from Integrating behaviour and ecology into global biodiversity conservation strategies 
Description Insights into animal behaviour play an increasingly central role in species-focused conservation practice. However, progress towards incorporating behaviour into regional or global conservation strategies has been more limited, not least because standardized datasets of behavioural traits are generally lacking at wider taxonomic or spatial scales. Here we make use of the recent expansion of global datasets for birds to assess the prospects for including behavioural traits in systematic conservation priority-setting and monitoring programmes. Using International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List classifications for more than 9500 bird species, we show that the incidence of threat can vary substantially across different behavioural categories, and that some types of behaviour-including particular foraging, mating and migration strategies-are significantly more threatened than others. The link between behavioural traits and extinction risk is partly driven by correlations with well-established geographical and ecological factors (e.g. range size, body mass, human population pressure), but our models also reveal that behaviour modifies the effect of these factors, helping to explain broad-scale patterns of extinction risk. Overall, these results suggest that a multi-species approach at the scale of communities, continents and ecosystems can be used to identify and monitor threatened behaviours, and to flag up cases of latent extinction risk, where threatened status may currently be underestimated. Our findings also highlight the importance of comprehensive standardized descriptive data for ecological and behavioural traits, and point the way towards deeper integration of behaviour into quantitative conservation assessments.This article is part of the theme issue 'Linking behaviour to dynamics of populations and communities: application of novel approaches in behavioural ecology to conservation'. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://rs.figshare.com/articles/Supplementary_Database_from_Integrating_behaviour_and_ecology_into_...
 
Title Supplementary Dataset 3 
Description Studies excluded for the database for the paper: Benítez-Lopez et al. The island rule explains consistent patterns of body size evolution across terrestrial vertebrates. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2020 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Supplementary_Dataset_3/12948839
 
Title Supplementary Dataset 4 
Description Parameter estimates for all phylogenetic meta-regression models testing the effect of several environmental and ecological factors on insular size shifts 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2020 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Supplementary_Dataset_4/12948872
 
Description Collaboration over Amazonian datasets with Jos Barlow, Lancaster 
Organisation Lancaster University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Statistical models and methods, additional datasets
Collaborator Contribution Large field-based datasets from long-term landscape-scale research projects
Impact Not yet.
Start Year 2012
 
Description Collaboration over global datasets with Andrew Meade, Reading 
Organisation University of Reading
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Large datasets generated by the existing grant are being shared with Andrew Meade.
Collaborator Contribution Andrew Meade is performing large-scale phylogenetic analyses.
Impact No outcomes yet
Start Year 2012
 
Description Collaboration over global datasets with Walter Jetz, Yale 
Organisation Yale University
Country United States 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution NERC funded work on tropical systems has led to projects tackling similar questions at a global scale in collaboration with biogeography and macroecology experts in Yale, USA (Walter Jetz)
Collaborator Contribution Research input into papers arising from the collaboration
Impact Two research papers: Pigot, A., Jetz, W., Sheard, C., Tobias, J.A. (2018) The macroecological dynamics of species coexistence in birds. Nature Ecology & Evolution 2: 1012-1019. Pigot, A., Tobias, J.A., Jetz, W. (2016) Energetic constraints on species coexistence in birds. PLoS Biology 14: e1002407.
Start Year 2012
 
Description Collaboration with B10K project 
Organisation Beijing Genomics Institute
Country China 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Functional traits for the world's birds
Collaborator Contribution Genomes for 10,000 species of birds. Several hundred already compiled. In-kind contribution in terms of sequencing costs are probably vastly underestimated.
Impact None yet, but several on the way
Start Year 2016
 
Description Collaboration with Helene Morlon 
Organisation École Normale Supérieure, Paris
Country France 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Functional trait dataset of the world's birds
Collaborator Contribution Technical expertise with unpublished analytical methods
Impact None yet, but 2 major papers in the pipeline
Start Year 2016
 
Description Collaboration with Luc Lens 
Organisation University of Ghent
Department Department of Biology
Country Belgium 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Functional traits of African birds
Collaborator Contribution Extensive field survey data from East Africa conducted over a series of years
Impact http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0163338 One publication above; others on the way
Start Year 2016
 
Description AvoNet consortium workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Workshop to spearhead a global data sharing enterprise
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Interviews and press releases for international media outlets 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Various interviews and press releases which have led to articles in national and international magazines and newspapers (over 30 outlets).
Most recently articles in The Atlantic (2018), The Daily Mail (2018), The Independent (2019), etc.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018,2019
 
Description Public lecture to British Ornithologists' Union 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A talk to members of a national interest group about findings of the research. The talk has been posted online and is being viewed globally.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Radio Interviews 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Interviewed live on the Today programme BBC Radio 4 to talk about my research. Also live-interviewed by Radio Wales and Radio Scotland.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018