Data and code from: Temperature and precipitation niche dynamics shape avian elevational shift strategies in the Hengduan Mountains

Avian seasonal elevational migration is a key life-history strategy for adapting to environmental changes, widely observed across global bird populations. Within elevational migrants, diverse movement strategies have been documented in multiple regions worldwide. In this study, we analyzed beeding species exhibiting pronounced seasonal elevational shifts in the Hengduan Mountains of southwestern China by synthesizing multi-source observational data. We identified distinct migration patterns and quantified their proportional representation. Further, we investigated differential adaptation to climate change among elevational migration strategies by integrating species-specific thermal and precipitation tolerances, seasonal extremes, and shifts in tolerance ranges. Our findings reveal distinct climatic adaptation strategies among elevational migration strategies. Species migrating upward during the breeding season exhibited significantly contracted thermal and precipitation tolerance range..., , # Dryad dataset

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.5mkkwh7hh](10.5061/dryad.5mkkwh7hh)

## Description of the data and file structure

The dataset was generated through a multi-stage ecological study investigating avian elevational migration patterns in the *Hengduan Mountain Region, China*.

### Files and variables

#### File: 1-Calculation_of_seasonal_elevation_distribution.R

**Description:** Resampling procedures and elevational shift classification.

#### File: 2-Environmental_data_process.R

**Description:** Quantification of species-specific climatic niches across elevational gradients.

#### File: 3-niche_metric_Analysis.R

**Description:** Core ecological metric calculations and primary data analysis.

#### File: resampling_movement_classification.txt

**Description:** Resampled elevational shift classification data

##### Variables

* median_diff: Difference in median elevation between breeding and non-breeding seasons
* upper_diff: Difference in upper elevation boundaries (95th per..., ,