Harmonizing spatial scales and ecological theories to predict avian richness and functional diversity within forest ecosystems

Abstract

Classic ecological theory has proven that temperature, precipitation, and productivity organize ecosystems at broad scales and are generalized drivers of biodiversity within different biomes. At local scales, the strength of these predictors is not reliable across different biomes. To better translate these theories to localized scales, it is essential to determine the links between drivers of biodiversity. Here we harmonize existing ecological theories to increase the predictive power for species richness and functional diversity. We test the relative importance of three-dimensional habitat structure as a link between local and broad scale patterns of avian richness and functional diversity. Our results indicate that habitat structure is stronger than precipitation, temperature, and elevation gradients for predicting avian species richness and functional diversity across different forest ecosystems in North America. We conclude that forest structure, driven by climatic drivers, is essential for predicting the response of biodiversity with future shifts in climatic regimes.