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SUMMARY:Impact of Recent Climate Change on Montane  Mammals and Birds - St
 eve Beissinger\, University of California\, Berkeley
DTSTART:20120423T120000Z
DTEND:20120423T130000Z
UID:TALK36894@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Jessica C. Walsh
DESCRIPTION:While global warming has clearly affected the phenology of spe
 cies and contributed to range expansions\, contractions of species' ranges
  are less well documented despite forecasts of massive future extinctions 
 from climate envelop models. Assessments of effects of recent climate chan
 ge on the distribution of biodiversity have been limited by use of histori
 cal surveys of short time spans with low spatial resolution\, or by confou
 nding effects of land use change. Furthermore\, range shifts are uncertain
  when confounded by false absences due to limited historic sampling\, and 
 the inability to control for changes in detectability between sampling per
 iods. We repeated a detailed\, early 20th century surveys of small mammals
  and birds across elevation gradients spanning the long-protected landscap
 es of Yosemite National Park (YNP)\, Lassen National Park (LNP) and Kings-
 Canyon-Sequoia National Park. Climate change over the past century was var
 iable at these transects\, ranging from a 3C increase in average annual mi
 nimum temperate at YNP to cooler\, wetter conditions at LNP. Using occupan
 cy modeling to control for variation in detectability\, we show substantia
 l (~500m on average) upward shifts in elevation limits for half of 28 smal
 l mammal species monitored. Ranges of formerly low elevation species expan
 ded and high elevation species contracted\, leading to changed community c
 omposition at mid and high elevations. Responses were idiosyncratic among 
 closely-related and ecologically-similar species. Nearly 50% of 70 bird sp
 ecies moved upward in elevational range\, 10% moved downward\, and 40% sho
 wed no change. Local colonizations and extinctions of birds followed the t
 rends predicted by their climatic niche based on long-term temperature and
  precipitation shifts. 
LOCATION:Part II Lecture Theatre\, Department of Zoology\, Downing Street\
 , Cambridge CB2 3EJ
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