Climate change is causing the ranges of many species to shift poleward and to higher elevations. Trailing-edge populations near the low-latitude edge of a shifting range are predicted to be at high risk of climate-induced extinction, but conservation efforts are hindered by a lack of information about the global distribution of trailing-edge populations. We used a large spatial dataset on the ranges of nearly all extant avian species to identify potential hotspots where trailing-edge populations represent a large proportion of the total avifauna. We identified potential trailing-edge population hotspots by isolating and overlaying low latitude regions of species’ ranges, and computing the proportion of total species richness in a location comprised of low-latitude populations. We identified potential hotspots on all continents other than Antarctica. Potential trailing-edge population diversity was highest near the equator, low-latitude margins of mountain ranges, desert edges, and along coastlines. Because a potential trailing-edge population hotspot might not be an actual trailing-edge population hotspot if the low-latitude populations are not declining, information on population trends is necessary for confirmation. As a case study, we focused on one of the identified hotspots, the Southern Appalachian Mountains, where our analysis indicated that 30 bird species have potential trailing-edge populations. Even though more population studies have been conducted in the Appalachian Mountains than in most of the other potential hotspots that we identified, there was insufficient information available from the high elevations where these species occur to make strong inferences about population declines. Our research highlights the need for a concerted effort to gather more information about population trends in the regions we identified as potential hotspots of trailing-edge population diversity.

气候变化导致许多物种的范围向极地移动并移向更高的高度。预测在该范围的低纬度边缘附近的后缘人口面临气候诱发的灭绝的高风险，但由于缺乏有关后缘人口全球分布的信息，保护工作受到了阻碍。我们使用了几乎所有现存鸟类物种范围内的大型空间数据集，以识别潜在热点，在这些热点中，后缘种群占整个鸟类的很大一部分。我们通过隔离和覆盖物种范围的低纬度区域并计算由低纬度种群组成的位置中物种丰富度的总比例，来确定潜在的后缘种群热点。我们确定了除南极洲以外的所有大洲的潜在热点。在赤道附近，山脉的低纬度边缘，沙漠边缘以及沿海岸线，潜在的后缘人口多样性最高。如果低纬度人口没有减少，由于潜在的后缘人口热点可能不是实际的后缘人口热点，因此需要有关人口趋势的信息来进行确认。作为案例研究，我们将重点放在确定的热点之一，即南部的阿巴拉契亚山脉，我们的分析表明，有30种鸟类具有潜在的后缘种群。尽管在阿巴拉契亚山脉进行的人口研究多于我们确定的大多数其他潜在热点，从这些物种发生的高海拔地区获得的信息不足，无法对人口减少做出强有力的推断。我们的研究强调，需要采取协调一致的努力，以收集更多有关我们确定为前沿人口多样性潜在热点地区的人口趋势信息。