How Hurricanes Drive Bird Displacement in Gulf Ecosystems Revealed by Deep Learning Species Distribution Model

How Hurricanes Drive Bird Displacement in Gulf Ecosystems Revealed by Deep Learning Species Distribution Model | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article How Hurricanes Drive Bird Displacement in Gulf Ecosystems Revealed by Deep Learning Species Distribution Model Liying Li, Marcos Zuzuarregui, Junwen Bai, Shoukun Sun, Yangkang Chen, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8545614/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Hurricanes invade and rapidly change coastal habitats with increasing frequency and intensity due to climate change. In areas affected by hurricanes, there is a cascade of immediate to long-term ecological impacts. Hurricane-related flooding can carry invasive wildlife and plant species into new regions, accelerating their spread. Birds connect multiple trophic levels of the food web and may worsen or mediate invasive species outbreaks. Understanding how hurricanes drive bird displacement can support the reserve planning for birds and native wildlife. This research employed deep learning models to delineate the biotic and abiotic niche for 332 bird species and produced fine-scale habitat suitability maps post-hurricanes. We found that how hurricanes drive birds’ displacement depends on long-term climate and sea level rise trajectories. Species’ vulnerabilities to storm surges vary among functional morphology groups and across hurricane seasons. Medium-sized, medium-long-winged birds, or Granivores, are more resilient to hurricane disturbance. Winter emerges as a critical bottleneck in maintaining structural habitat complexity, and prioritizing winter habitat quality, providing refugia adjacent to agricultural lands will likely yield disproportionate eco- logical benefits as hurricane intensity increases. Our research provided decision-makers with a toolset to respond proactively to the ecological impacts of extreme events and environmental change. Biological sciences/Ecology/Climate-change ecology Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology/Conservation biology Earth and environmental sciences/Climate sciences/Climate change/Climate-change impacts Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SupplementaryInformationS3DataSources.docx Data Sources SupplementaryInformationS2Evaluationmetrics.docx Evaluation metrics SupplementaryInformationS1Supplementaryfigures.docx Supplementary figures Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8545614","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":573349464,"identity":"ce3b2ece-bee5-4c01-b797-3b62abdaf6f5","order_by":0,"name":"Liying 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In areas affected by hurricanes, there is a cascade\r\nof immediate to long-term ecological impacts. Hurricane-related flooding can carry\r\ninvasive wildlife and plant species into new regions, accelerating their spread. Birds\r\nconnect multiple trophic levels of the food web and may worsen or mediate invasive\r\nspecies outbreaks. Understanding how hurricanes drive bird displacement can support the\r\nreserve planning for birds and native wildlife. This research employed deep learning\r\nmodels to delineate the biotic and abiotic niche for 332 bird species and produced\r\nfine-scale habitat suitability maps post-hurricanes. We found that how hurricanes\r\ndrive birds’ displacement depends on long-term climate and sea level rise trajectories.\r\nSpecies’ vulnerabilities to storm surges vary among functional morphology groups and\r\nacross hurricane seasons. Medium-sized, medium-long-winged birds, or Granivores,\r\nare more resilient to hurricane disturbance. Winter emerges as a critical bottleneck\r\nin maintaining structural habitat complexity, and prioritizing winter habitat quality,\r\nproviding refugia adjacent to agricultural lands will likely yield disproportionate eco-\r\nlogical benefits as hurricane intensity increases. 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