Land-use diversity predicts regional bird taxonomic and functional richness worldwide

Abstract

Unveiling the processes that shape biodiversity patterns is a cornerstone of ecology. Land-use diversity (i.e., the variety of land-use categories within an area) is often considered an important environmental factor that promotes species richness at landscape and regional scales by increasing beta-diversity. Still, the role of land-use diversity in structuring global taxonomic and functional richness is unknown. Here, we examine the hypothesis that regional species taxonomic and functional richness is explained by global patterns of land-use diversity by analyzing distribution and trait data for all extant birds. We found strong support for our hypothesis. Land-use diversity predicted bird taxonomic and functional richness in almost all biogeographic realms, even after accounting for the effect of net primary productivity (i.e., a proxy of resource availability and habitat heterogeneity). This link was particularly consistent with functional richness compared to taxonomic richness. In the Palearctic and Afrotropic realms, a saturation effect was evident, suggesting a non-linear relationship between land-use diversity and biodiversity. Our results reveal that land-use diversity is a key environmental factor associated with several facets of bird regional diversity, widening our understanding of key large-scale predictors of biodiversity patterns. These results can contribute to policies aimed at minimizing regional biodiversity loss.