Aim Climate change and an increase in human disturbance are major drivers of global biodiversity loss. Yet it is not clear to what extent their effects on animal communities are direct or indirectly mediated by changes in biotic factors, such as plant diversity. Here, we disentangle the direct and indirect effects of climate, human disturbance, vegetation structure and plant functional traits on the functional diversity of avi...

Agricultural expansion has resulted in both land use and land cover change ( LULCC ) across the tropics. However, the spatial and temporal patterns of such change and their resulting impacts are poorly understood, particularly for the presatellite era. Here, we quantify the LULCC history across the 33.9 million ha watershed of Tanzania's Eastern Arc Mountains, using geo‐referenced and digitized historical land cover maps (date...

Aim The persistence and stability of habitats through time are considered predictors of high levels of biodiversity in some environments. Long‐term habitat persistence and stability may explain the species‐rich, endemic forest fauna and flora of the Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Region ( EABR ). Using complementary phylogenetic and biogeographical approaches, we examine evolutionary patterns in EABR brevicipitid frogs. Usin...

Aim Climate is widely recognized as a major predictor of species richness patterns along large‐scale environmental gradients. Nevertheless, the mechanisms by which climate influences species richness are still a matter of debate. We disentangle whether climate influences species richness of birds directly via physiological limitations or indirectly via vegetation structure or the availability of food resources. Location M ount...