Abstract The Quaternary period, marked by alternating glacial and interglacial phases, has profoundly shaped global biogeographic patterns. Among the ecosystems affected by this climatic instability are the Neotropical semiarid regions, such as the Caatinga, which have undergone profound changes in their distribution through time. However, tempo and mode of changes in distribution of the Caatinga avifauna during Quaternary remain poorly understood. In this study, we analyzed the spatial dynamics of the Caatinga avifauna over the Late Quaternary (last 130 kyr) to assess the influence of climatic oscillations on their distributions. We employed ecological niche modeling based on occurrence data for 14 bird species associated with distinct Caatinga vegetation types and evaluated whether these vegetation types exhibited distinct paleoclimatic responses. Our results revealed a synchronous pattern of range contraction across all species during colder Quaternary phases, reaching their minimum extent during the Heinrich Stadial (17.0–14.7 ka), followed by expansions during warmer periods, such as the Last Interglacial, the Bølling–Allerød (14.7–12.9 ka), and the Holocene. We found no relationship between range dynamics and vegetation types occupied by these birds. Overall, our findings reinforce the emerging view of range contraction of open-area habitats during colder Quaternary phases in northeastern Brazil.
Costa et al. (Sun,) studied this question.