The evaluation we have made of species’ exposure to
climate change is based on changes in land cover and relies
on the well established dependence of land cover on climatic
conditions. Our evaluation is transparent and avoids many of
the potential conceptual and methodological pitfalls inherent
in more complex approaches. But the approach presented
here makes some important assumptions: we assume that
birds exhibit persistent habitat associations and are limited in
their dispersal. In some cases, habitat specialists may be
affected by habitat changes finer than those registered by the
available land-cover categorization, which would cause us to
underestimate climate change impacts for these species.