scholarly journals Resource selection by the Endangered Arabian tahr: identifying critical habitats for conservation and climate change adaptation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Ross ◽  
H. Rawahi ◽  
M.H. Jahdhami
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Habitat Selection ◽  
Resource Selection ◽  
Wildlife Conservation ◽  
Habitat Preferences ◽  
Wildlife Habitat ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Thermal Refuge

AbstractThe Arabian tahr is an Endangered mountain ungulate endemic to the Hajar Mountains of Arabia. The Arabian tahr population is in decline and threats to tahr habitat are intensifying, in addition new potential challenges from climate change are emerging. Fundamental to future conservation planning is understanding tahr habitat selection patterns, so we can prioritise habitat protection, and understand how habitat may be used to provide thermal refuge and allow adaptation to climate change impacts. We used GPS collars and resource selection functions to characterise Arabian tahr habitat preferences in Wadi Sareen Nature Reserve, Oman. We found tahr habitat selection was dependent on scale, sex and season. Vegetation resources were only selected at the smallest scales of selection and avoided at other scales. Habitat providing low heat load and thermal refuge were intensely selected at small and medium scales, by both sexes and in both seasons, suggesting the importance of thermal refuges in facilitating thermoregulation. Higher elevations, steep slopes and rugged habitats were selected across all scales tested here, and in previous landscape-scale studies, indicating the fundamental importance of these habitats in supporting Arabian tahr populations. Our results identified critical habitats required to sustain Arabian tahr, and demonstrated the importance of thermal refuges to species living in the hot climates such as the Arabian Peninsula. Given the accessibility of habitat layers, and ease in which the identified habitats can be mapped using a geographical information system, understanding the habitat selection of tahr and other species is a crucial step to increasing conservation management capacity of threatened species. Given our uncertainty of how to conserve wildlife under future climate change, understanding the availability and distribution of wildlife habitat is an important baseline from where we can plan, connect and preserve the resources necessary for wildlife conservation.

scholarly journals Current and future suitable habitat areas for Nasuella olivacea (Gray, 1865) in Colombia and Ecuador and analysis of its distribution across different land uses

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Medrano-Vizcaíno ◽  
Patricia Gutiérrez-Salazar
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Potential Distribution ◽  
Wildlife Conservation ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Suitable Habitat ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
Ecological Niche Models

Nasuella olivacea is an endemic mammal from the Andes of Ecuador and Colombia. Due to its rarity, aspects about its natural history, ecology and distribution patterns are not well known, therefore, research is needed to generate knowledge about this carnivore and a first step is studying suitable habitat areas. We performed Ecological Niche Models and applied future climate change scenarios (2.6 and 8.5 RCP) to determine the potential distribution of this mammal in Colombia and Ecuador, with current and future climate change conditions; furthermore, we analysed its distribution along several land covers. We found that N. olivacea is likely to be found in areas where no records have been reported previously; likewise, climate change conditions would increase suitable distribution areas. Concerning land cover, 73.4% of N. olivacea potential distribution was located outside Protected Areas (PA), 46.1% in Forests and 40.3% in Agricultural Lands. These findings highlight the need to further research understudied species, furthering our understanding about distribution trends and responses to changing climatic conditions, as well as informig future PA designing. These are essential tools for supporting wildlife conservation plans, being applicable for rare species whose biology and ecology remain unknown.

Wildlife habitat selection on landscapes with industrial disturbance

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 327-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
BOGDAN CRISTESCU ◽  
GORDON B. STENHOUSE ◽  
MARC SYMBALUK ◽  
SCOTT E. NIELSEN ◽  
MARK S. BOYCE
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Selection ◽  
Resource Selection ◽  
Ursus Arctos ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Surface Mining ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Wildlife Habitat ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Site Specific ◽  
Animal Populations

SUMMARYTechnological advancements in remote sensing and telemetry provide opportunities for assessing the effects of expanding extractive industries on animal populations. Here, we illustrate the applicability of resource selection functions (RSFs) for modelling wildlife habitat selection on industrially-disturbed landscapes. We used grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) from a threatened population in Canada and surface mining as a case study. RSF predictions based on GPS radiocollared bears (nduring mining = 7; npost mining = 9) showed that males and solitary females selected areas primarily outside mineral surface leases (MSLs) during active mining, and conversely inside MSLs after mine closure. However, females with cubs selected areas within compared to outside MSLs irrespective of mining activity. Individual variability was pronounced, although some environmental- and human-related variables were consistent across reproductive classes. For males and solitary females, regional-scale RSFs yielded comparable results to site-specific models, whereas for females with cubs, modelling the two scales produced divergent results. While mine reclamation may afford opportunities for bear persistence, managing public access will likely decrease the risk of human-caused bear mortality. RSFs are powerful tools that merit widespread use in quantitative and visual investigations of wildlife habitat selection on industrially-modified landscapes, using Geographic Information System layers that precisely characterize site-specific conditions.

scholarly journals Anticipating changes in wildlife habitat induced by private forest owners’ adaptation to climate change and carbon policy

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. e0230525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yukiko Hashida ◽  
John Withey ◽  
David J. Lewis ◽  
Tara Newman ◽  
Jeffrey D. Kline
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Wildlife Habitat ◽  
Private Forest ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Private Forest Owners ◽  
Forest Owners ◽  
Carbon Policy

scholarly journals Shifts in the abiotic and biotic environment of cultivated sunflower under future climate change

OCL ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Zia Mehrabi ◽  
Samuel Pironon ◽  
Michael Kantar ◽  
Navin Ramankutty ◽  
Loren Rieseberg
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Crop Wild Relatives ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Initial Assessment ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Multi Scale ◽  
Sunflower Crop ◽  
Climate Space ◽  
Biotic Environment

Sunflower is a unique model species for assessing crop responses and adaptation to climate change. We provide an initial assessment of how climate change may influence the abiotic and biotic environment of cultivated sunflower across the world. We find an 8% shift between current and future climate space in cultivated sunflower locations globally, and a 48% shift in Northern America, where the crop originates. Globally, the current niche occupied by sunflower crop wild relatives offer few opportunities to adapt to future climate for cultivated sunflower, but in Northern America 100% of the future climate space of cultivated sunflower is filled by the niche of primary wild relative germplasm alone (e.g. wild Helianthus annuus). Globally, we find little difference in the overlap between current and future climate space of cultivated sunflower with the niche of the important sunflower pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, but in Northern America, climate change will decrease the overlap between local populations of this pest and cultivated sunflower by 38%. Our analysis highlights the utility of multi-scale analysis for identifying candidate taxa for breeding efforts and for understanding how future climate will shift the abiotic and biotic environment of cultivated crops.

FLOOD VULNERABILITY AND ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN BANGLADESH: A REVIEW

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (03) ◽  
pp. 1450024 ◽  
Author(s):  
MD ABOUL FAZAL YOUNUS
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Flood Vulnerability ◽  
Vulnerability To Climate Change ◽  
Extreme Flood

This paper reviews recent literature on flood research in Bangladesh, focusing on the nation's vulnerability to climate change and its ability to adapt. This review reveals that the literature on community-based vulnerability and adaptation, and their processes and assessments in response to hazards under climate change regimes are inadequate, apart from a recent focus on assessment of the vulnerability of rural communities, their ability to adapt their farming methods, or the economic consequences of failure to adapt in response to extreme flood events, e.g. Younus (2012a,b); Younus and Harvey (2013, 2014). This paper argues that an integrated assessment of rural vulnerability and community-based adaptation is needed in order to ensure sustainable changes in response to future climate change regimes in Bangladesh.

scholarly journals From Phenology and Habitat Preferences to Climate Change: Importance of Citizen Science in Studying Insect Ecology in the Continental Scale with American Red Flat Bark Beetle, Cucujus clavipes, as a Model Species

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 369
Author(s):  
Radomir Jaskuła ◽  
Marta Kolanowska ◽  
Marek Michalski ◽  
Axel Schwerk
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
North America ◽  
Bark Beetle ◽  
Habitat Preferences ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Separate Species ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
Body Coloration

The American red flat bark beetle, Cucujus clavipes, is a wide distributed saproxylic species divided into two subspecies: ssp. clavipes restricted to eastern regions of North America and ssp. puniceus occurring only in western regions of this continent. Unique morphological features, including body shape and body coloration, make this species easy to recognize even for amateurs. Surprisingly, except some studies focused on physiological adaptations of the species, the ecology of C. clavipes was almost unstudied. Based on over 500 records collected by citizen scientists and deposited in the iNaturalist data base, we studied phenological activity of adult beetles, habitat preferences and impact of future climate change for both subspecies separately. The results clearly show that spp. clavipes and ssp. puniceus can be characterized by differences in phenology and macrohabitat preferences, and their ranges do not overlap at any point. Spp. clavipes is found as more opportunistic taxon occurring in different forests as well as in urban and agricultural areas with tree vegetation always in elevations below 500 m, while elevational distribution of ssp. puniceus covers areas up to 2300 m, and the beetle was observed mainly in forested areas. Moreover, we expect that climate warming will have negative influence on both subspecies with the possible loss of proper niches at level even up to 47–70% of their actual ranges during next few decades. As the species is actually recognized as unthreatened and always co-occurs with many other species, we suggest, because of its expected future habitat loss, to pay more attention to conservationists for possible negative changes in saproxylic insects and/or forest fauna in North America. In addition, as our results clearly show that both subspecies of C. clavipes differ ecologically, which strongly supports earlier significant morphological and physiological differences noted between them, we suggest that their taxonomical status should be verified by molecular data, because very probably they represent separate species.

scholarly journals Modeling the Potential Impacts of Climate Change on the Hydrology of Selected Forested Wetlands in the Southeastern United States

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Zhu ◽  
Ge Sun ◽  
Wenhong Li ◽  
Yu Zhang ◽  
Guofang Miao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Water Table ◽  
Potential Evapotranspiration ◽  
Southeastern United States ◽  
Forested Wetlands ◽  
Wetland Hydrology ◽  
Wildlife Habitat ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Abstract. Riverine floodplains and coastal margins of the southeastern United States host extensive forested wetlands, providing myriad ecosystem services including carbon sequestration, water quality improvement, groundwater recharge, and wildlife habitat. However, these ecosystems, which are closely dependent on wetland hydrology, are at risk due to human-made climate change. This study develops site-specific empirical hydrologic models for five forested wetlands with different characteristics by synthesizing long-term observed meteorological and hydrological data. These wetlands represent typical Cypress Ponds/Swamps, Carolina Bays, Pine Flatwoods, and Wet Pine, and natural Bottomland Hardwoods ecosystems. The validated empirical models are then applied at each wetland to predict future water table changes using climate projections from 20 General Circulation Models (GCMs) participating in the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project 5 (CMIP5) under both Regional Concentration Pathways (RCP) 4.5 and RCP 8.5 greenhouse gas emission scenarios. We show that projected combined changes in precipitation and potential evapotranspiration would significantly alter wetland groundwater dynamics in the 21st century. Compared to the historical period, all five studied wetlands are predicted to become drier by the end of this century. The water table depth increases vary from 4 cm to 22 cm due to global warming. The large decrease in water availability (i.e., precipitation minus potential evapotranspiration) will cause a drop in the water table in all the five studied wetlands by the late 21st century. Among the five examined wetlands, the depression wetland in hot and humid Florida appears to be most sensitive to climate change. This modeling study provides quantitative information on the potential magnitude of wetland hydrological response to future climate change for typical forested wetlands in the southern U.S. Study results suggest that the ecosystem functions of southern forested wetlands will be substantially impacted by future climate change due to hydrological changes that are the key control to wetland biogeochemical cycles, vegetation distribution, fire regimes, and wildlife habitat. We conclude that climate change assessment on wetland forest ecosystems and adaptation management planning in the southeastern U.S. must first evaluate the impacts of climate change on wetland hydrology.

scholarly journals Application of the MUSLE Model and Potential Effects of Climate Change in a Small Alpine Catchment in Northern Italy

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 2679
Author(s):  
Francesca Berteni ◽  
Arianna Dada ◽  
Giovanna Grossi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sediment Yield ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
South Central ◽  
Basin Scale

The evaluation of sediment yield by water erosion taking into consideration the possible impact of climate change is the object of this work, concerning the use of the Modified Universal Soil Loss Equation (MUSLE) in an Italian case study. This empirical model was implemented in a Geographical Information System, taking into account Alpine hydrology and geomorphological and climate parameters, which are crucial in the analysis of the intensity and variability of sediment yield production processes. The case study is the Guerna Creek basin, a small-sized mountain watershed placed in Lombardy, in the South-Central Alps (Northern Italy). In recent decades it has been hit at the same time by floods and erosive phenomena, showing its hydraulic-hydrological weakness. Three future climate change scenarios from 2041 to 2060, around the middle of this century, were built according to CORDEX data referring to three different Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP 2.6, RCP 4.5, RCP 8.5). The findings showed that in the future climate, the sediment yield at the basin scale might change by 24–44% for a single heavy storm in the middle of the current century.

scholarly journals First records on habitat use of semi-feral cattle in southern forests: topography reveals more than vegetation

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolás Seoane
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Selection ◽  
Habitat Use ◽  
Resource Selection ◽  
Beech Forest ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Gps Tracking ◽  
Suitable Model ◽  
Selection Probability ◽  
Southern Beech

While the presence of cattle in forests is quite common, how they use this habitat is often overlooked. When this is examined, most studies focus on measurements of the vegetation variables influencing habitat selection. This current report provides a suitable model to study habitat use by livestock in forested areas by means of GPS tracking on selected individuals. The model was applied to data from semi-feral cattle in order to obtain the first description of their habitat use in southern forests. Furthermore, the model accounted for individual variability, and hinted at population patterns of habitat use. The positions of 15 individual cows with GPS collars were recorded covering twelve months in a Nothofagus (southern beech) forest in Patagonia (Argentina). By projecting these GPS location data into a geographical information system (GIS), a resource selection probability function (RSPF) that considers topographic and vegetation variables was built. The habitat selection by semi-feral cattle in southern beech forests showed a large interindividual variability, but also some similar characteristics which enable a proper description of habitat-use patterns. It was found that habitat selection by cattle was mainly affected by topographic variables such as altitude and the combination of slope and aspect. In both cases the variables were selected below average relative to availability, suggesting a preferred habitat range. Livestock also tended to avoid areas of closed shrublands and showed a slight preference for meadows. Cattle give significant importance to topographic variables to define their habitat selection in this type of mountainous forests. This might be because of an ecological adaptation to the major features of these types of forests due to ferality. Furthermore, these results are the basis for management applications such as predictive maps of use by semi-feral livestock in forested landscapes.

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