CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE FUTURE OF REPRODUCTION OF NEOTROPICAL PASSERIFORMS: PHENOLOGY, CLUTCH SIZE AND EGG SIZE PROJECTIONS
Climate change, birds, climate projections, reproduction, eggs
The impacts of climate change are already being observed across the globe. Projections for the next 50 years indicate that changes in temperature and precipitation will occur in different ways on space and time scales. Passeriformes, the most numerous order of birds, have had a decline in reproductive success due to these impacts, with different responses influenced by their phylogeny, life history and ecological niche. There is already evidence of decreased egg size as a result of premature warming in spring, disruption of temporal reproductive patterns, and changes in clutch size resulting from reduced rainfall. Despite this, information about the impact of climate change on tropical Passerines is varied and often interpreted from theories of temperate environments. With the aid of oological collections, predictive models and vulnerability indices, this thesis proposes to project the impact of climate change on the reproduction of Neotropical Passerines, specifically: on egg size (chapter 1), clutch size (chapter 2) and phenology (chapter 3), under projected climate change scenarios for 2041-2060, 2061- 2080, and 2081-2100