Protecting alpine biodiversity in the Middle East from climate change: Implications for high-elevation birds

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, L..., , , # 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](https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13826).

It includes the following data files:

1. birds_occ.csv: The geographic location of the Middle East alpine birds.

2. bkgr.csv: The geographic location of the background data.

3. current: The raster layer of the climatic variables of the current time.

4. 2050: The raster layer of the climatic variables for 2050.

5. 2070: The raster layer of the climatic variables for 2070.

6. 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

1. birds_occ.csv: 19,26...