Protecting alpine biodiversity in the Middle East from climate change: Implications for high-elevation birds
Data files
Mar 01, 2024 version files 77.50 MB
-
Alpine_birds.rar
-
README.md
Abstract
Aims: The Middle East, located in the arid belt of the Earth, is home to a diverse range of biodiversity, with its mountain ecosystems being the most important centers of species diversity and endemism. In this study, the impact of climate change on alpine bird species in the Middle East was assessed across five mountain systems: Alborz – Kopet-Dagh, Caucasus – Pontic, Levant – Taurus, Sarawat – Hijaz, and Zagros – Central Iran.
Location: Middle East
Methods: Using species distribution models (SDMs), 38 native alpine bird species were analyzed under different climate change scenarios. We also identified future multi-species in-situ and ex-situ climate refugia and assessed the efficiency of the current protected areas (PAs) system in protecting them.
Results: The results indicated that, on average, habitat suitability for these species is projected to decline by 36.83% (2050, SSP2-4.5) to 60.10% (2070, SSP5-8.5) with an upward range shift. Based on stacking range change of the species, Levant – Taurus, Zagros – Central Iran, and Alborz – Kopet-Dagh mountain ranges will experience the highest amount of habitat loss, respectively, with Caucasus – Pontic being least affected. The gap analysis showed that the existing PAs system covers only 13 and 10 percent of the in-situ and ex-situ climatic refugia, respectively.
Conclusions: Our findings underscore the significance of mountainous regions in the Middle East for the persistence of alpine bird species and the urgent need to prioritize climate refugia in trans-boundary and participatory conservation plans. It is crucial to prevent habitat degradation and alteration resulting from human activities in these areas to ensure the persistence of alpine species and their habitats.
README: Data from: Protecting alpine biodiversity in the Middle East from climate change: implications for high-elevation birds
This dataset is related to the article "Protecting alpine biodiversity in the Middle East from climate change: implications for high-elevation birds"
Accepted in the "Diversity and Distributions" journal, https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13826.
It includes the following data files:
birds_occ.csv: The geographic location of the Middle East alpine birds.
bkgr.csv: The geographic location of the background data.
current: The raster layer of the climatic variables of the current time.
2050: The raster layer of the climatic variables for 2050.
2070: The raster layer of the climatic variables for 2070.
SDM_Alpine_birds.R: The R code designed to perform the SDM analysis and computing range shifts of the speceis during climate change.
Description of the data and file structure
birds_occ.csv: 19,261 obs. of 3 variables:
"Longitude" <- Longitude
"Latitude" <- Latitude
"Species" <- Scientific name of the 38 alpinr birdsbkgr.csv: 10,000 obs. of 2 variables:
"Longitude" <- Longitude
"Latitude" <- Latitudecurrent: 7 raster layers in .tif format:
"bio1" <- Annual mean temperature
"bio3" <- Isothermality
"bio8" <- Mean Temperature of Wettest Quarter
"bio9" <- Mean Temperature of Driest Quarter
"bio13" <- Precipitation of Wettest Month
"bio14" <- Precipitation of Driest Month
"bio15" <- Precipitation Seasonality (Coefficient of Variation)2050: 7 climatic layers × five global circulation models (GCMs) × two climatie change scenarios for 2050 = 70 climatic layers in .tif format:
GCMs include ACCESS-CM2, CNRM-CM6-1, IPSL-CM6A-LR, MIROC6, and MPI-ESM1-2-LR and climate change scenarios include SSP245 and SSP585.2070: 7 climatic layers × five global circulation models (GCMs) × two climatie change scenarios for 2070 = 70 climatic layers in .tif format:
GCMs include ACCESS-CM2, CNRM-CM6-1, IPSL-CM6A-LR, MIROC6, and MPI-ESM1-2-LR and climate change scenarios include SSP245 and SSP585.SDM_Alpine_birds.R: The R code designed to perform the SDM analysis and computing range shifts of the speceis during climate change.
Sharing/Access information
Data deposited in the Dryad Digital Repository ()
Code/Software
All analyses were performed in R 4.3.2 See the main text and supplementary information of the manuscript for details.