What determines elevational distributions of Andean Birds? The relative importance of species interactions and physiology

热带山脉的鸟类种类比地球上任何其他地区都多。这种高度多样性的一个原因是，随着物种的消失和被其他物种所取代，鸟类群落从低地到山顶发生了巨大的变化。这项拟议的研究旨在理解为什么这么多物种只局限于热带山脉斜坡上可用海拔范围的一部分。秘鲁南部安第斯山脉的马努路被选为研究地点，因为它拥有世界上最高的鸟类物种多样性（1000种）。研究人员将首先根据每个物种对不同温度范围的耐受能力来确定它们可能占据的海拔范围。然后，对于那些没有占据它们生理上可以忍受的全部条件范围的物种，研究人员将研究与其他物种（如捕食者和竞争对手）的相互作用如何决定物种的生存环境。热带山区被认为是气候变化对小范围动植物影响最大的地区。世界上超过四分之一的濒危鸟类只能生活在热带山脉狭窄的海拔范围内。在下个世纪，随着气温的升高，许多热带山脉物种将不得不向上坡移动。任何阻止物种成功迁移到上坡新环境的因素都会大大增加它们灭绝的风险。然而，目前对任何热带物种对温度变化的耐受性几乎一无所知。物种间的相互作用也可能影响到物种为响应变暖而上坡的程度。这项研究将首次为一个高度多样化的地区的许多不同物种提供这些数据。研究小组还将与当地社区进行广泛互动，培训来自美国和秘鲁的许多学生，并生成可供公众使用的图片鸟类指南等资源。

Tropical mountain ranges have more bird species than any other region on earth. One reason for this high diversity is that bird communities change dramatically from the lowlands to the tops of mountains as species drop out and are replaced by others. The proposed research seeks to understand why so many species are restricted to just a portion of the elevation range available on the slopes of tropical mountains. The Manu Road in the Andes of southern Peru was chosen as the study site because it has the highest bird species diversity in the world (1000 species). The researchers will first seek to determine the range of elevations that each species can potentially occupy based on their ability to tolerate different temperature ranges. Then, for species that do not occupy the entire range of conditions that they can tolerate physiologically, the researchers will study how interactions with other species, such as predators and competitors, may instead determine where species can live.Tropical mountains have been targeted as the region where climate change will have the greatest impact on plants and animals with small ranges. More than a quarter of the world's endangered bird species are restricted to narrow elevation ranges on tropical mountains. Over the next century, many species of tropical mountains will have to move upslope as temperatures increase. Anything that prevents species from successfully moving to new environments upslope will greatly increase their risk of extinction. Currently, however, almost nothing is known about tolerances of any tropical species to changing temperatures. Species interactions are also likely to affect the extent to which species can move upslope in response to warming temperatures. This research will be the first to provide these data for many different species in a hyper-diverse region. The research team will also interact extensively with local communities, train many students from the US and from Peru, and generate resources such as photo-illustrated bird guides that can be used by the general public.