CREAF

Human-driven extinctions have led to irreversible biodiversity loss, with profound implications for ecosystems. Understanding the ecological consequences of extinctions is a major challenge. In this project, we use birds as a study model to address this challenge.

Objectives

The main objective is to gather a comprehensive dataset of traits for all anthropogenically extinct birds (~600 species) in order to infer ecological roles of extinct species. Then, we will test (1) how are ecological roles differently affected across time (i.e., before and after prehistoric and historic extinctions); (2) If the loss of particular ecological roles is associated with cascading effects on other mutualistic species; and (3) how extinct species could facilitate the establishment of invasive species in their vacant niches.

The project's findings will shed light on whether human pressures disproportionately affect certain ecological roles and provide valuable information to help preserve biodiversity on our rapidly changing planet.