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Sustained conservation of species requires integration of future climate change effects, but few tools exist to assist managers. The System for Assessing Vulnerability of Species (SAVS) identifies the relative vulnerability or resilience of vertebrate species to climate change. Designed for managers, the SAVS is an easily applied tool that uses a questionnaire of 22 predictive criteria to create vulnerability scores. The user scores species' attributes relating to potential vulnerability or resilience associated with projections for their region. Six scores are produced: an overall score denoting level of vulnerability or resilience, four categorical scores (habitat, physiology, phenology, and biotic interactions) indicating source of vulnerability, and an uncertainty score, which reflects user confidence in the predicted response. The SAVS provides a framework for integrating new information into the climate change assessment process.

recommended valuable literature citations and provided abstracts and papers from the 1989 symposium, Ecology and Conservation of Neotropical Migrant Landbirds, hosted by Manomet Bird Observatory (proceedings in press). Additional concepts ultimately incorporated into the report were generated during discussions with Joelle Buffa, Tom Darden, and Michael Lennartz. Sam Droege and Sidney Gauthreaux supplied original figures and photographs for the report. This literature review was originally prepared in support of a draft USDA Forest Service prospectus for conserving neotropical migratory birds. The prospectus combined with the literature review was distributed to about 120 participants at a planning workshop held in Atlanta, Georgia, December 10-14,1990. Workshop participants, too numerous to list, provided verbal comments that have been incorporated into this report. Additionally, Raymond O'Connor, Jim Sweeney, and Paul Hamel provided written reviews. Finally, it's doubtful that this report would ever have been written had it not been for Mike Lennartz's initiative and energy within the USDA Forest Service, and a respectful thanks is owed him. Special recognition is also extended to Amos Eno and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for stimulating the need to review and synthesize the state-of-the-art literature on neotropical migrants. It is hoped that this literature review will be of use in the development of cooperative plans to conserve and restore populations of neotropical migrants.

We compared consistency of species richness and relative abundance data collected concurrently using mist netting and point counts during migration in riparian habitats along the middle Rio Grande of central New Mexico. Mist netting detected 74% and point counts detected 82% of the 197 species encountered during the study. Species that mist netting failed to capture were usually large, such as quails, raptors, owls, woodpeckers, jays, and crows, or those foraging on the wing, such as swallows and nighthawks; species that point counts failed to detect were usually small, such as sparrows, warblers, vireos, and wrens, or rare species. For the 110 species detected by both techniques, relative abundance was correlated (r = 0.75). However, point counts tended to provide lower estimates for species that were more likely to be captured by mist netting. The strength of the relationship of abundance estimates from the two methods varied by habitat type (cottonwood, agriculture, and willow). The discrepancy between the two techniques was similar in both magnitude and direction in willow and agriculture habitats but was less consistent between each of these two and cottonwood, probably because of canopy height and vegetation vertical structure. The discrepancy between the two techniques in estimating relative abundance was smaller in this study than in studies on breeding or wintering grounds. Less habitat specificity and more-active foraging by migrants during stopover might underlie the high consistency between mist netting and point counts in this study. Consistencia entre Redes y Puntos de Conteo para Determinar la Riqueza de Especies y la Abundancia Relativa de Aves en Migración Resumen. Comparamos la consistencia de datos de riqueza y abundancia relativa colectados utilizando redes y puntos de conteo en hábitats ribereños durante la migración por el sector central del Río Grande en Nuevo México. De las 197 especies registradas, detectamos 74% con redes y 82% con puntos de conteo. Por lo general, las especies no capturadas en las redes fueron las de mayor tamaño corporal, como perdices, rapaces, búhos, carpinteros, urracas, cuervos y las que se alimentan al vuelo, como golondrinas y añaperos. Las aves no detectadas en los puntos de conteo fueron por lo general las más pequeñas, como garriones, reinitas, vireos, reyezuelos, y las especies raras. Para las 110 especies que fueron registradas con ambos métodos, la abundancia relativa estuvo correlacionada (r = 0.75). Sin embargo, las estimaciones basadas en puntos de conteo generalmente fueron menores para aquellas especies detectadas con mayor frecuencia en las redes. El ajuste entre la relación de las estimaciones de abundancia obtenidas mediante ambos métodos varió en los diferentes tipos de hábitat (álamo, agrícola y sauce). En los hábitats de sauce y agrícola la diferencia entre los dos métodos fue similar tanto en magnitud como en dirección, pero fue menos consistente entre éstos y el hábitat de álamo. La variación en la abundancia estimada entre hábitats posiblemente se debió a la altura del dosel y la estructura vertical de la vegetación. La diferencia estimada de la abundancia relativa entre ambos métodos fue menor en este estudio que en otros estudios realizados en áreas de invernada y anidamiento. Esta mayor consistencia entre ambos métodos en estimar la abundancia relativa puede deberse a que las aves presentan mayor actividad de forrajeo con menor especificidad de hábitat durante las paradas de descanso en las rutas migratorias.

Mean surface temperatures have increased globally by ~0.7 °C per century since 1900 and 0.16 °C per decade since 1970 (Levinson and Fettig 2014). Most of this warming is believed to result from increases in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases produced by human activity. Temperature increases have been greater in winter than in summer, and there is a tendency for these increases to be manifested mainly by changes in minimum (nighttime low) temperatures (Kukla and Karl 1993). Changes in precipitation patterns have also been observed, but are more variable than those of temperature. Even under conservative emission scenarios, future climatic changes are likely to include further increases in temperature with significant drying (drought) in some regions and increases in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events (IPCC 2007). For example, multimodel means of annual temperature from climate projections predict an increase of 3–9 °C in the United States over the next century combined with reductions in summer precipitation in certain areas (Walsh et al. 2014). These changes will affect invasive species in several ways. Furthermore, climate change may challenge the way we perceive and consider nonnative invasive species, as impacts to some will change and others will remain unaffected; other nonnative species are likely to become invasive; and native species are likely to shift their geographic ranges into novel habitats.

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