Temporal changes in the individual size distribution modulate the long-term trends of biomass and energy use of North American breeding bird communities

Aim The frequency of different body sizes in an ecological community (the individual size distribution, or ISD) is a key link between the number of individual organisms present in a community and community function-total biomass or total energy use. If the ISD changes over time, the dynamics of community function may become decoupled from trends in abundance. Understanding how, and how often, the ISD modulates the relationship between abundance, biomass and energy use is of critical importance to understand biodiversity trends in the Anthropocene. Here, we conduct the first macroecological-scale analysis of this type for avian communities.Location North America, north of Mexico.Time Period1989-2018.Major Taxa StudiedBreeding birds.Methods We used species' traits to generate annual ISDs for bird communities in the North American Breeding Bird Survey. We compared the long-term trends in total biomass and energy use to the trends generated from a null model of an unchanging ISD.Results Trends in biomass have been evenly split between increases and decreases, but the trends predicted by the null model were dominated by decreases. A substantial number of communities have undergone a shift in the ISD favouring larger bodied species, resulting in a less negative trend in biomass than would be expected had the ISD remained static. Trends in energy use more closely paralleled the null model.Main Conclusions Taking changes in the ISD into account qualitatively changes the continental-scale picture of how biomass and energy use have changed over the past 30 years. For North American breeding birds, shifts in species composition favouring larger bodied species may have partially offset declines in standing biomass driven by losses of individuals over the past 30 years.

Automated summary

The frequency of different body sizes in an ecological community is crucial for understanding the abundance, biomass, and energy use in the community. This study conducted a macroecological-scale analysis of avian communities in North America and found that changes in the individual size distribution (ISD) have a significant impact on biomass and energy use.