Climate Change Effects on Animal Distributions and Evolution

Jeremy E. GuinnEnvironmental Science Program

Sitting Bull College

Effects on animal

populations are explicitly

tied to the disturbance of

ecological processes.

INTRODUCTION

Increased Intensity of Storms

• increased flooding

• increased erosion

• increased sedimentation

Habitat loss, degradation, or change

INTRODUCTION

Melting Ice Caps

• Changes in migration patterns

• Changes in food availability

• Changes in habitat

Loss of species and entire ecosystems

INTRODUCTION

Drought & Desertification

• Changes in Vegetative Community

• Changes in Food Web

• Changes in Habitat

Loss of species and entire ecosystems

INTRODUCTION

Climate Change

• Increased Intensity of Storms

•Melting Ice Caps

•Drought & Desertification

Loss of species and entire ecosystems

INTRODUCTION

Effects on Animal Populations

I. Loss of Biodiversity

II. Changes in Disease Outbreaks

III. Changes in Range Distributions

IV. Changes in Co-evolution and Timing Events

V. Increases in Generalists, Decreases in Specialists

Loss of Biodiversity

What is Diversity?

The key to conservation is maintaining and

improving biodiversity.

What is Biodiversity?

Loss of Biodiversity

Species Richness

How is Biodiversity Measured?

Species Evenness

Index of Diversity

Loss of Biodiversity

Amphibian Declines Bleaching of Coral Reefs

Loss of Fisheries

Changes in Disease Outbreaks

Changes in precipitation are tied to fungal, bacterial,

and viral diseases that affect animals or are carried

by animals.Golden Frog— Costa Rica

Extinct due to a bacterial infection outbreak

Changes in Disease Outbreaks

Changes in Disease OutbreaksYukon River

• 45% of Chinook Salmon now infected by protozoan parasite, Ichthyophonus, never found in the area before 1985. (Kocan et al. 2004)

• Presence of Ichthyophonus tied to increases in water temperature

Changes in Disease Outbreaks

North Dakota

• June 2009—Snapping Turtle Die-off tied to bacterial infection

reportedly caused by severe winter and flooding

Analyses of data from the past 40 years of Audubon’s

Christmas Bird Count reveal that 58% of the 305

widespread species that winter on the continent have

shifted significantly north since 1968, some by hundreds

of kilometers.

Changes in Range Distributions

Changes in Range Distributions

Changes in Range DistributionsA 3oC increase would result in drying of much of the “prairie

potholes” causing major declines in aquatic communities.

Changes in Range DistributionsAltitudinal shifts up mountainsides to cope with warmer

temperatures.

Changes in Range Distributions

Banks Island, Canada - Expanded Ranges.

The Inuit now regularly see species common much further south

that previously were never seen on the island, such as robins and

barn swallows.

Thunder and lightning, never before recorded in Inuit oral history,

have also been reported (Ashford and Castleden, 2001).

Changes in Co-evolution & Timing Events

What is Co-evolution?

European Ecosystem—

Flowers bloom, butterflies produce caterpillars, bird eggs hatch—all

timed together for the benefit of all parties.

Observations over 47 years showed that birds maintained their

timing, but caterpillars peaked two weeks earlier.

Increases in Generalists andIntroduced Species

Less competition from specialists will allow some

generalist to expand.

Warmer northern regions will allow species to

expand.

Decreases in Specialists

Species that have a small ecological niche will decline as these

habitats are altered by climate change.

Decreases in Specialists

Lynx—

The feline's main prey, the snowshoe hare, lives in deep snow

cover in boreal forest. Because they rely so heavily on hares for

food, lynx are adapted to live in areas with snow cover at least

four months out of the year.

Summary

• Some animal populations will be severely impacted by climate

change. Others species may benefit from new conditions.

• However, biodiversity will almost certainly be decreased and many

species will go extinct.

Summary

“The combination of rising temperatures and winter precipitation

amounts therefore trends toward earlier and more dramatic spring

snowmelts and higher stream-flow conditions in winter and spring,

with an expected increase in potentially significant flood events such

as the 1997 Red River flood of Grand Forks that destroyed nearly

90% of the city and caused over $1 billion in damage.”

—in Philander (2008).