Date: August 9, 2018
Source: S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of
Natural Resources, Utah State University
Summary:
Climate and land-use change are
shrinking natural wildlife habitats around the world. Yet despite their
importance to rural economies and natural ecosystems, remarkably little is
known about the geographic distribution of most wild species -- especially
those that migrate seasonally over large areas.
Climate and land-use change are
shrinking natural wildlife habitats around the world. Yet despite their
importance to rural economies and natural ecosystems, remarkably little is
known about the geographic distribution of most wild species -- especially
those that migrate seasonally over large areas. By combining NASA satellite
imagery with wildlife surveys conducted by state natural resources agencies, a
team of researchers at Utah State University and the University of Maryland,
and the U.S. Geological Survey modeled the effects of plant productivity on
populations of mule deer and mountain lions. Specifically, they mapped the
abundance of both species over a climatically diverse region spanning multiple
western states.
These models provide new insights
into how differences in climate are transmitted through the food chain, from
plants to herbivores and then to predators. Prey and predator abundance both
increased with plant productivity, which is governed by precipitation and
temperature. Conversely, animals responded to decreases in food availability by
moving and foraging over larger areas, which could lead to increased conflict
with humans. David Stoner, lead author of the study, "Climatically driven
changes in primary production propagate through trophic levels" published
today in the journal Global Change Biology, remarked that, "We
expected to see that satellite measurements of plant productivity would explain
the abundance of deer. However, we were surprised to see how closely the maps
of productivity also predicted the distribution of the mountain lion, their
major predator."
Posts
