Aim: Species in ecological communities are linked by biotic interactions. It is therefore important to simultaneously study the impacts of global warming on interdependent taxa from different trophic levels. Here, we quantify current and potential future associations of functional diversity (based on multiple traits) and functional identity (based on individual traits) between interacting taxa using projection models under climate change. Location: A tropical elevational gradient (500–3500 m a.s.l.) in the Manú biosphere reserve, southeast Peru Methods: We investigated different scenarios of how species’ elevational ranges might change under climate change based on projected future increases in mean annual temperature and current associations of species’ elevational ranges with temperature. We computed the functional diversity and identity of current and potential future plant and bird communities based on morphological traits that influence plant-frugivore interactions. Finally, we tested for changes in the associations between projected functional diversity and identity of future plant and bird communities. Results: Projected functional diversity of plants and birds decreased under range contraction and range shift scenarios at low elevations. At mid and high elevations, functional diversity of both species groups increased most strongly under range expansion. Correspondence between plant and bird functional diversity was weakest under range contraction, while it remained strong under range expansion and shift. Similarly, the correspondence of projected plant and bird functional identity was weakest under a range contraction scenario. Main conclusions: Our findings suggest that a scenario in which species are dispersal-limited and sensitive to increasing temperatures is likely to cause a functional mismatch between plant and bird communities along this tropical elevational gradient. This implies that certain functional types of plants could miss avian seed dispersers in the future. Our approach of studying functional diversity of interacting taxa could be more widely applied to identify potential future mismatches between trophic levels.
A1_Elevation_plants
Current minimum and maximum elevation and elevational range extents of 392 fleshy-fruited plant species from the Manu National Park in south-east Peru (Brako & Zarucchi, 1993; Tropicos, 2017). Further given are the source and source details of the elevational information as well as projected species-specific mean vertical distances. Species-specific mean vertical distances were projected according to five general circulation models (CCSM4, HadGEM2-ES, MIROC 5, MRI-CGCM and NorESM), representative concentration pathway 8.5 and the year 2080.
A2_Elevation_birds
Current minimum and maximum elevation and elevational range extents of 217 frugivorous bird species from the Manu National Park in south-east Peru (Dehling et al., 2013; Merkord, 2010; Walker et al., 2006). Further given are projected species-specific mean vertical distances. Species-specific mean vertical distances were projected according to five general circulation models (CCSM4, HadGEM2-ES, MIROC 5, MRI-CGCM and NorESM), representative concentration pathway 8.5 and the year 2080.
A3_Traits_plants
Taxonomy and functional traits of 392 fleshy-fruited plant species from the Manu National Park in south-east Peru. Given are fruit length and width (mm), plant height (m) and crop mass (g). Fruit traits have been measured on fresh fruit samples. Number of fruits per plant (used to determine the crop mass) and plant height have been estimated in the field. Given are species mean trait values, except for 23 species for which no species-level data was available and genus mean trait values are given (see column "Genus mean").
A4_Traits_birds
Taxonomy and functional traits of 217 frugivorous birds from the Manu National Park in south-east peru. Given are bill length and width (mm), wing pointedness, i.e. Kipp’s index and body mass (g). Morphological traits have been measured on museum specimen following Eck et al.(2011). Traits have been measured only for adult and, if possible, for a minimum of two female and two male specimens. Body mass was taken from Dunning et al. (2007). Given are species mean values of the measured traits.
A5_FD_plants
Current and projected functional richness and species richness of fleshy-fruited plant communities along an elevational gradient in the Manu National Park in south-east Peru. Projections were done according to five general circulation models (CCSM4, HadGEM2-ES, MIROC 5, MRI-CGCM and NorESM), representative concentration pathway 8.5 and the year 2080. Furthermore, we applied three vertical dispersal scenarios (range contraction, range expansion and range shift). Given are absolute and standardised values (absolute value of a community/ absolute value of the full species pool). For details on the projections, please read the methods in the published article associated with this data set.
A6_FD_birds
Current and projected functional richness and species richness of frugivorous bird communities along an elevational gradient in the Manu National Park in south-east Peru. Projections were done according to five general circulation models (CCSM4, HadGEM2-ES, MIROC 5, MRI-CGCM and NorESM), representative concentration pathway 8.5 and the year 2080. Furthermore, we applied three vertical dispersal scenarios (range contraction, range expansion and range shift). Given are absolute and standardized values (absolute value of a community/ absolute value of the full species pool). For details on the projections, please read the methods in the published article associated with this data set.
A7_FI_plants
Current and projected future functional identity, i.e. mean fruit width, mean fruit length, mean plant height and mean crop mass of fleshy-fruited plant communities along an elevational gradient in the Manu National Park in south-east Peru. Mean values are computed based on z-transformed raw traits (i.e. traits have been standardized to a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one according to the entire species pool). Projections were done according to five general circulation models (CCSM4, HadGEM2-ES, MIROC 5, MRI-CGCM and NorESM), representative concentration pathway 8.5 and the year 2080. Furthermore, we applied three vertical dispersal scenarios (range contraction, range expansion and range shift). For details on the projections, please read the methods in the published article associated with this data set.
A8_FI_birds
Current and projected future functional identity, i.e. mean bill width, mean bill length, mean Kipp’s index and mean body mass of frugivorous bird communities along an elevational gradient in the Manu National Park in south-east Peru. Mean values are computed based on the z-transformed raw traits (i.e. traits have been standardized to a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one according to the entire species pool). Projections were done according to five general circulation models (CCSM4, HadGEM2-ES, MIROC 5, MRI-CGCM and NorESM), representative concentration pathway 8.5 and the year 2080. Furthermore, we applied three vertical dispersal scenarios (range contraction, range expansion and range shift). For details on the projections, please read the methods in the published article associated with this data set.
