Projected effects of climate change on boreal bird community accentuated by anthropogenic disturbances in western boreal forest, Canada

Aim

Climate change is expected to influence boreal bird communities significantly, notably through changes in forest habitat (composition and age structure), in the coming decades. How these changes will accumulate and interact with anthropogenic disturbances remains an open question for most species.

Location

Northeastern Alberta, Canada.

Methods

We used the LANDIS-II forest landscape model to project changes in forest landscapes, and associated bird populations (72 passerine species), according to three climatic scenarios (baseline, RCP 4.5, RCP 8.5) and three forest harvesting scenarios of differing intensity.

Results

Both forest harvesting and climate-related drivers were projected to have large impacts on bird communities in this region. As a result of climate-induced increases in fire activity as well as decreased conifer productivity, our simulations projected that an important proportion of Alberta’s boreal forests would transition to treeless habitat (i.e....