Data from: Species-specific traits mediate avian demographic responses under past climate change

Anticipating species’ responses to environmental change is a pressing
mission in biodiversity conservation. Despite decades of research
investigating how climate change may affect population sizes, historical
context is lacking and the traits which mediate demographic sensitivity to
changing climate remain elusive. We use whole-genome sequence data to
reconstruct the demographic histories of 263 bird species over the past
million years and identify networks of interacting morphological and
life-history traits associated with changes in effective population size
(Ne) in response to climate warming and cooling. Our results identify
direct and indirect effects of key traits representing survival,
reproduction, and dispersal processes on long-term demographic responses
to climate change and highlight traits most likely to influence population
responses to ongoing climate warming.