Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
in. a. decrease. in. the. amount. of. mist. precipitation. received. in. the. forest. due. to. the.
increased.altitude.of.the.cloud.bank.
Changes.in.ambient.temperature.may.inluence.amphibian.behaviors,.including.
those.related.to.reproduction..Potentially,.changes.in.ambient.temperature.on.a.global.
scale.could.disrupt.the.timing.of.breeding,.periods.of.hibernation,.and.the.ability.to.
ind.food.(e.g.,.Donnelly.and.Crump.1998;.Blaustein.et.al..2001b).
The. hypothesis. that. unusual. weather. patterns,. including. decreases. in. rainfall.
and.continuing.drought.conditions.in.the.montane.rainforests.of.eastern.Australia,.
caused. the. populations. of. several. amphibian. species. to. decline. was.not. supported.
(Laurance.1996)..Laurance.suggested.that.other.factors,.including.epidemic.disease,.
may.have.contributed.to.these.declines.
r
emoTe
s
ensing
Several.approaches.have.been.used.to.examine.the.potential.effects.of.climate.change.
on.amphibian.populations..One.strategy.is.the.use.of.remote.sensing.information.that.
incorporates. a. variety. of. tools. and. databases. to. examine. the. relationship. between.
climate.and.amphibian.population.declines.
Alexander. and. Eischeid. (2001). examined. the. relationship. between. amphibian.
declines. and. climate. variations. in. Colorado,. Puerto. Rico,. Costa. Rica,. Panama,.
and. Queensland. state. in. northeastern. Australia. using. information. gathered. from.
airplanes,.land.stations,.satellites,.ships,.and.weather.balloons.with.outputs.from.a.
weather. forecast. model.. They. showed. that. although. declines. occurred. while. tem-
perature. and. precipitation. anomalies. occurred,. these. anomalies. were. not. beyond.
the.range.of.normal.variability..They.concluded.that.unusual.climate,.measured.as.
regional.estimates.of.temperature.and.precipitation,.is.unlikely.to.be.a.direct.cause.
for.amphibian.population.declines.in.the.regions.they.examined.
Stallard. (2001). measured. time. series. data. sets. for. Puerto. Rico. that. extended.
back.at.least.into.the.1980s.with.some.data.sets.covering.the.entire.century..These.
data.included.forest.cover;.annual.mean,.minimum,.and.maximum.daily.tempera-
ture;. annual. rainfall;. rain. and. stream. chemistry;. and. atmospheric. dust. transport..
Moreover,.he.used.satellite.imagery.and.air.chemistry.samples.from.a.single.aircraft.
light.across.the.Caribbean..As.Alexander.and.Eischeid.(2001).also.found,.none.of.
the.data.sets.pointed.to.signiicant.changes.in.the.parameters.he.measured.that.would.
directly.cause.amphibian.population.declines..He.suggested.that.more.experimental.
research.is.needed.to.examine.the.amphibian.population.decline.problem.
m
odels
Predicted.changes.in.the.global.climate.can.potentially.cause.shifts.in.the.geographic.
ranges.of.plants.and.animals..Recent.climatic.changes.have.already.resulted.in.spe-
cies.range.shifts.(Parmesan.2006)..The.more.extreme.changes.in.climate.projected.
for.the.coming.century.(IPCC.2007).will.likely.produce.even.larger.shifts.in.species.
distributions.(Thomas.et.al..2004;.Thuiller.et.al..2005)..The.impacts.of.these.range.
shifts.may.have.profound.effects.on.both.community.structure.and.the.functioning.of.
