Identifying climatic refugia: Wet and complex habitats act as buffer for birds during severe droughts

Anthropogenic climate change impacts biodiversity by altering habitats through rising temperatures and changing precipitation patterns, including extreme climatic events, such as droughts and heatwaves. Identifying and conserving climate refugia—stable habitats that buffer species during extreme events by maintaining suitable microclimatic conditions—is crucial as such events become more frequent and intense. Using bird survey data from eight Mediterranean habitats over 7 years (including more than 3 years of drought with less than half the average annual precipitation), we predicted that complex and wetter habitats support higher bird abundance and richness during droughts. To test this, we evaluated the effects of precipitation and temperature from the current and previous year, the climate–vegetation structure interactions and climate–microsite (wet/dry) interactions on birds, aiming to identify key climate refugia. Results showed that wet habitats supported higher bird abundance and richness. However, vegetation complexity alone may not serve as effective refugia. Furthermore, open‐habitat species also shift into structurally suboptimal wet habitats during drought, highlighting complex behavioural responses. A refugia effect was evident during drought years, but immediately after more than 3 years of drought, bird populations declined across almost all habitats, highlighting the limited mid‐term capacity of refugia. Synthesis and applications . Wet habitats and complex vegetation, therefore, are critical for providing stable microsites and water resources, underscoring the need to preserve and enhance the resilience of these habitats to support biodiversity during extreme events. Our study provides valuable insights for conservation strategies that should focus on identifying refugia, enhancing landscape connectivity, and supporting species mobility and adaptation. Targeted landscape management can then use this information to guide efforts to protect ecosystems amid increasing climate variability.