ClimateAnalyzer: set of scripts to delimit regions based on bioclimatic variables

Habitat stability is important for maintaining biodiversity by preventing
species extinction, but this stability is being challenged by climate
change. The tropical alpine ecosystem is currently one of the ecosystems
most threatened by global warming, and the flora close to the permanent
snow line is at high risk of extinction. The tropical alpine ecosystem,
found in South and Central America, Malesia and Papuasia, Africa, and
Hawaii, is of relatively young evolutionary age, and it has been exposed
to changing climates since its origin, particularly during the
Pleistocene. Estimating habitat loss and gain between the Last Glacial
Maximum (LGM) and the present allows us to relate current biodiversity to
past changes in climate and habitat stability. In order to do so, 1) we
developed a unifying climate-based delimitation of tropical alpine regions
across continents, and 2) we used this delimitation to assess the degree
of habitat stability, i.e. the overlap of suitable areas between the LGM
and the present, in different tropical alpine regions. Finally, we discuss
the link between habitat stability and tropical alpine plant diversity.
Our climate-based delimitation approach can be easily applied to other
ecosystems using our developed code, facilitating macro-comparative
studies of habitat dynamics through time.