Genetic Responses to Climate Change in Montane Birds Across Asian-Pacific Mountain Systems

Abstract

Climate change profoundly alters montane ecosystem stability, driving upslope habitat compression, population fragmentation and elevated extinction risks for specialized mountain bird species. Montane avifauna are highly susceptible to climatic fluctuation due to narrow elevational niches and topographically limited dispersal ability. This narrative paper systematically synthesizes recent genomic and ecological evidence across Asian-Pacific mountain systems to clarify how climate change shapes population connectivity, genetic diversity, local adaptation, and genomic vulnerability of montane birds. Existing studies demonstrate that historical climatic cycles and persistent geographic barriers jointly structure contemporary genetic differentiation, while intraspecific populations exhibit highly variable genomic offset, genetic load and climate resilience. Gene flow and interspecific introgression can partially mitigate climate-driven genetic degradation, yet such beneficial effects are context-dependent and spatially heterogeneous. Current research suffers from unbalanced geographic sampling and insufficient real-time genomic evidence for modern warming. This paper summarizes core genetic response mechanisms and key research gaps, providing targeted genomic insights for future adaptive conservation and evolutionary prediction of montane bird biodiversity.