sMacrobehaviour

Disentangling Drivers of Geographic Variation in Vertebrate Behaviour

First meeting: tba

PIs:

Sally Keith
Katharine Marske

iDiv member:

Ulrich Brose

Project summary:

Predicting the distribution of Earth’s biodiversity – a central goal of macroecology, biogeography, and global change biology – is critical for disentangling the causes and consequences of continued environmental change and biodiversity loss for ecosystems globally. Differences in behaviour can vastly affect species-level responses to change, and the behavioural diversity of communities can moderate the impacts of environmental disturbance, influence ecosystem function, and affect adaptation to future challenges. Understanding how behavioural variation is related to other facets of biodiversity thus underpins our ability to predict responses to global change. sMacrobehaviour aims to tackle this knowledge gap by synthesising data, tools and approaches from macroecology and behavioural ecology to reveal how and why vertebrate behavioural diversity varies across space. Facilitated by working group meetings and scientific support staff, we will 1) synthesise a database of species-level behavioural traits spanning terrestrial and marine vertebrates, 2) quantify the global geographic distribution of prevalence within assemblages for multiple core behaviours (e.g., strategies for foraging, dispersal, parental care, predator avoidance, territoriality), and 3) estimate assemblage-level behavioural diversity at global scales. Building on this foundation, we will 4) reveal the extent to which macroecological constraints on species pools (including phylogenetic, morphological, and physiological variation) interact with local environmental conditions to shape the types and diversity of behavioural strategies present within assemblages. Our team unites behavioural ecologists, biogeographers and macroecologists to deliver the first demonstration of macrobehaviour’s capacity to predict the distribution of behavioural variation at global scales.

In person participants: 

Lydia Beaudrot (Michigan State University), Jonathan Drury (Durham University), Myriam Hirt (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv)), Brian McGill (University of Maine), Katharine Marske (School of Biological Sciences, University of Oklahoma), Theresa Rueger (Newcastle University), Christopher Monk (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel), Catherine Sheard (University of Aberdeen), Rucha Prakash Karkarey (Lancaster University), Ulrich Brose (Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU)), Hayley Lanier (School of Biological Sciences, University of Oklahoma), Victoria Marchment (Lancaster University), Leticia Margarita Ochoa-Ochoa (Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)