Evaluating temporal turnover in avian species richness in a Mediterranean semiarid region: different responses to elevation and forest cover

Aim. When studying the effects of global change on biodiversity, it is far more common for the effects of climate change and land-use changes to be assessed separately rather than jointly. However, the effects of land-use changes in recent decades on species richness in areas affected by climate change have been less studied. We assess the temporal turnover in species richness of an avian community between a historical period and a modern one as a consequence of global change.
Location. Semiarid Mediterranean ecosystem (Southeastern Spain).
Method. We fitted a hierarchical multi-species occupancy model for each period (1991-1992, and 2012-2017), obtaining avian species-specific estimates of occupancy probability in relation to environmental covariates (elevation and forest cover). We analyze the relationships between changes in the bird community and environmental variables, analysing the temporal turnover of the species richness and the richness-based species-exchange ratio.
Results....