Bird species’ tolerance to human pressures and associations with population change

Aim: Some species thrive in human-dominated environments, while others are highly sensitive to all human pressures. However, standardised estimates of species’ tolerances to human pressures are lacking at large spatial extents and taxonomic breadth. Here, we quantify the world's bird species’ tolerances to human pressures. The associated precision values can be applied to scientific research and conservation.
Location: Global.
Time period: 2013–2021.
Major taxa studied: 6090 bird species.
Methods: We used binary observation data from eBird and modeled species’ occurrences as a function of the Human Footprint Index. Using these models, we predicted how likely each species was to occur under different levels of human pressures. Then, we calculated each species’ Human Tolerance Index (HTI) as the level of the Human Footprint Index where predicted occurrence probability was reduced to 50% of the maximum species’ occurrence probability. We used resampling to obtain estimates of uncertainty o..., We used binary observation data from eBird and model species’ occurrences as a function of the Human Footprint Index. Using these models, we predicted how likely each species was to occur under different levels of human pressures. Then, we calculated species’ Human Tolerance Index (HTI) as the level of the Human Footprint Index where predicted occurrence probability was reduced to 50% of the maximum species’ occurrence probability for 6094 bird species. We used resampling to obtain estimates of uncertainty on the Human Tolerance Indices. , , # Bird species’ tolerance to human pressures and associations with population change

Codes for filtering and analysing eBird data to calculate bird species' tolerances to human pressures and the calculated tolerances as dataset

README file created by Emma-Liina Marjakangas on December 8th 2023

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We used binary observation data from eBird and model species’ occurrences as a function of the Human Footprint Index to quantify the world's bird species’ tolerances to human pressures. We included also the associated precision; values which can be applied to scientific research and conservation.

\## Description of the data and file structure

Data for analysis steps are freely available from eBird (see below).

Dataset containing all calculated bird tolerances to human pressures are included in the excel-file \"bird_tolerances\". The first sheet \"Tolerances\" includes the tolerance values, while the second sheet \"Metadata\" includes the explanation for each column name and ranges of the pre...