Large-scale range collapse of Hawaiian forest birds under climate change and the need for 21st century conservation options
A key challenge in climate change adaptation planning is projecting how changes in climate will affect efforts to conserve biological communities, and in particular species already under threat. While the projected effects of climate change on individual species may vary from beneficial to deleterious, for rare species already at risk of extinction (hereinafter, at-risk species), the projected effects of climate change are generally thought to accelerate declines. Hawaiian forest birds are a group of at-risk species that are likely to suffer significant disease-driven impacts from climate change. Of the 46 species of forest birds extant at the time of European contact in 1778, only 21 are still extant with 1 species occurring only in captivity.