Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
6
EffectsofClimate
Changeonthe
ElevationalLimitsof
SpeciesRanges
Robert J. Wilson and David Gutiérrez
CONTENTS
Background............................................................................................................. 107
Reported.Elevational.Shifts.in.Species.Distributions............................................. 109
Identiication.of.Uphill.Range.Shifts...................................................................... 115
Attribution.of.Range.Shifts.to.Effects.of.Climate.Change..................................... 116
Mechanisms.behind.Uphill.Range.Shifts............................................................... 119
Modeling.Effects.of.Uphill.Range.Shifts.on.Biodiversity...................................... 121
Synthesis,.Future.Directions,.and.Conservation..................................................... 123
Acknowledgments.................................................................................................. 125
Summary................................................................................................................. 126
References.............................................................................................................. 126
BACKGROUND
Elevational. patterns. in. species. distributions. and. diversity. represent. promising.
sources. of. evidence. for. the. ecological. effects. of. climate. change.. Elevational. pat-
terns. in. diversity. are. sometimes. argued. to. be. a. consequence. of. climatic. limits. to.
individual.species.distributions,.and.considerable.empirical.data.have.been.collected.
to.inform.this.debate.(Rahbek.1995;.Lomolino.2001;.McCain.2005)..Apart.from.this.
wealth.of.theory.and.baseline.evidence,.there.are.also.strong.arguments.why.spe-
cies.should.be.expected.to.shift.their.distributions.more.quickly.across.elevational.
rather.than.latitudinal.gradients.as.the.climate.warms..First,.temperature.and.other.
climate. variables. change. over. much. shorter. geographical. distances. with. elevation.
than.with.latitude,.and.indeed.in.the.Tropics.there.are.only.weak.latitudinal.climate.
gradients.(Colwell.et.al..2008),.so.that.species.do.not.need.to.shift.elevations.as.far.
as. latitudes. to. remain. in. suitable. climate. space.. Second,. human. impact. is. gener-
ally.less.pronounced.in.mountain.environments.than.at.lower.elevations.(Ellis.and.
Ramankutty.2008;.Nogués-Bravo.et.al..2008)..As.a.result,.species.should.be.able.to.
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