Aim Habitat conversion, in general, and urbanisation, in particular, are thought to create ecological filters that eliminate some species while simultaneously replacing them with others that thrive under novel conditions. The specific nature of these filters is unclear, but morphology may play an important role. Here, we seek to assess which lizard morphologies are favoured in urban habitats. Location Continental United States...

Behavioral changes are often animals’ first responses to environmental change and may act as a bellwether for population viability. Nonetheless, most studies of habitat conversion focus on changes in species occurrences or abundances. We analyzed >14,000 behavioral observations across 55 bird species in communities in northwestern Costa Rica to determine how land use affects reproductive, foraging, and other passive kinds of b...

Many animal–environment interactions are mediated by the physical forms of the environment, especially in tropical forests, where habitats are structurally complex and highly diverse. Higher structural complexity, measured as habitat surface area, may provide increased resource availability for animals, leading to higher animal diversity. Greater habitat surface area supports increased animal diversity in other systems, such a...

Ecological community structure ultimately depends on the production of community members by speciation. To understand how macroevolution shapes communities, we surveyed Anolis lizard assemblages across elevations on Jamaica and Hispaniola, neighbouring Caribbean islands similar in environment, but contrasting in the richness of their endemic evolutionary radiations. The impact of diversification on local communities depends on...

For migratory species, seasonal movements complicate local climate adaptation, as it is unclear whether individuals track climate niches across the annual cycle. In the migratory songbird yellow warbler ( Setophaga petechia ), we find a correlation between individual‐level wintering and breeding precipitation, but not temperature. Birds wintering in the driest regions of the Neotropics breed in the driest regions of North Amer...

Aim A major goal in modern ecology is understanding the source of variation in species responses to anthropogenic change. Trait‐based approaches show promise, but traits found to be predictive in one study often fail in others. We seek to understand whether variation in traits’ explanatory power comes about due to interaction effects—between multiple traits and between traits and the environment. We assess the context‐dependen...

Earth is experiencing multiple global changes that will, together, determine the fate of many species. Yet, how biological communities respond to concurrent stressors at local‐to‐regional scales remains largely unknown. In particular, understanding how local habitat conversion interacts with regional climate change to shape patterns in β‐diversity—differences among sites in their species compositions—is critical to forecast co...

Biological communities are structured phylogenetically—closely related species are typically more likely to be found at the same sites. This may be, in part, because they respond similarly to environmental gradients. Accurately surveying biological communities is, however, made difficult by the fact that detection of species is not perfect. In recent years, numerous statistical methods have been developed that aim to overcome...

Land‐use change and climate change are driving a global biodiversity crisis. Yet, how species' responses to climate change are correlated with their responses to land‐use change is poorly understood. Here, we assess the linkages between climate and land‐use change on birds in Neotropical forest and agriculture. Across > 300 species, we show that affiliation with drier climates is associated with an ability to persist in and co...

Habitat conversion is a major driver of the biodiversity crisis, yet why some species undergo local extinction while others thrive under novel conditions remains unclear. We suggest that focusing on species' niches, rather than traits, may provide the predictive power needed to forecast biodiversity change. We first examine two Neotropical frog congeners with drastically different affinities to deforestation and document how t...

The future of biodiversity and ecosystem services depends largely on the capacity of human‐dominated ecosystems to support them, yet this capacity remains largely unknown. Using the framework of countryside biogeography, and working in the Las Cruces system of Coto Brus, Costa Rica, we assessed reptile and amphibian assemblages within four habitats that typify much of the Neotropics: sun coffee plantations (12 sites), pasture...