Alpine glacial relict species losing out to climate change: The case of the fragmented mountain hare population (Lepus timidus) in the Alps
Alpine and Arctic species are considered to be particularly vulnerable to climate change, which is expected to cause habitat loss, fragmentation and—ultimately—ex- tinction of cold-adapted species. However, the impact of climate change on glacial relict populations is not well understood, and specif...
Published in: | Global Change Biology |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Wiley
2018
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://boris.unibe.ch/126990/1/Rehnus_GloChaBio2018.pdf https://boris.unibe.ch/126990/ |
id |
ftunivbern:oai:boris.unibe.ch:126990 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftunivbern:oai:boris.unibe.ch:126990 2023-08-20T04:05:00+02:00 Alpine glacial relict species losing out to climate change: The case of the fragmented mountain hare population (Lepus timidus) in the Alps Rehnus, Maik Bollmann, Kurt Schmatz, Dirk R. Hackländer, Klaus Braunisch, Veronika 2018 application/pdf https://boris.unibe.ch/126990/1/Rehnus_GloChaBio2018.pdf https://boris.unibe.ch/126990/ eng eng Wiley https://boris.unibe.ch/126990/ info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess Rehnus, Maik; Bollmann, Kurt; Schmatz, Dirk R.; Hackländer, Klaus; Braunisch, Veronika (2018). Alpine glacial relict species losing out to climate change: The case of the fragmented mountain hare population (Lepus timidus) in the Alps. Global Change Biology, 24(7), pp. 3236-3253. Wiley 10.1111/gcb.14087 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14087> 570 Life sciences biology 590 Animals (Zoology) info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion PeerReviewed 2018 ftunivbern https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14087 2023-07-31T21:50:24Z Alpine and Arctic species are considered to be particularly vulnerable to climate change, which is expected to cause habitat loss, fragmentation and—ultimately—ex- tinction of cold-adapted species. However, the impact of climate change on glacial relict populations is not well understood, and specific recommendations for adaptive conservation management are lacking. We focused on the mountain hare (Lepus timidus) as a model species and modelled species distribution in combination with patch and landscape-based connectivity metrics. They were derived from graph-the- ory models to quantify changes in species distribution and to estimate the current and future importance of habitat patches for overall population connectivity. Models were calibrated based on 1,046 locations of species presence distributed across three biogeographic regions in the Swiss Alps and extrapolated according to two IPCC scenarios of climate change (RCP 4.5 & 8.5), each represented by three down- scaled global climate models. The models predicted an average habitat loss of 35% (22%–55%) by 2100, mainly due to an increase in temperature during the reproduc- tive season. An increase in habitat fragmentation was reflected in a 43% decrease in patch size, a 17% increase in the number of habitat patches and a 34% increase in inter-patch distance. However, the predicted changes in habitat availability and connectivity varied considerably between biogeographic regions: Whereas the great- est habitat losses with an increase in inter-patch distance were predicted at the southern and northern edges of the species’ Alpine distribution, the greatest increase in patch number and decrease in patch size is expected in the central Swiss Alps. Finally, both the number of isolated habitat patches and the number of patches crucial for maintaining the habitat network increased under the different variants of climate change. Focusing conservation action on the central Swiss Alps may help mitigate the predicted effects of climate change on population ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change Lepus timidus mountain hare BORIS (Bern Open Repository and Information System, University of Bern) Arctic Tive ENVELOPE(12.480,12.480,65.107,65.107) Global Change Biology 24 7 3236 3253 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
BORIS (Bern Open Repository and Information System, University of Bern) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivbern |
language |
English |
topic |
570 Life sciences biology 590 Animals (Zoology) |
spellingShingle |
570 Life sciences biology 590 Animals (Zoology) Rehnus, Maik Bollmann, Kurt Schmatz, Dirk R. Hackländer, Klaus Braunisch, Veronika Alpine glacial relict species losing out to climate change: The case of the fragmented mountain hare population (Lepus timidus) in the Alps |
topic_facet |
570 Life sciences biology 590 Animals (Zoology) |
description |
Alpine and Arctic species are considered to be particularly vulnerable to climate change, which is expected to cause habitat loss, fragmentation and—ultimately—ex- tinction of cold-adapted species. However, the impact of climate change on glacial relict populations is not well understood, and specific recommendations for adaptive conservation management are lacking. We focused on the mountain hare (Lepus timidus) as a model species and modelled species distribution in combination with patch and landscape-based connectivity metrics. They were derived from graph-the- ory models to quantify changes in species distribution and to estimate the current and future importance of habitat patches for overall population connectivity. Models were calibrated based on 1,046 locations of species presence distributed across three biogeographic regions in the Swiss Alps and extrapolated according to two IPCC scenarios of climate change (RCP 4.5 & 8.5), each represented by three down- scaled global climate models. The models predicted an average habitat loss of 35% (22%–55%) by 2100, mainly due to an increase in temperature during the reproduc- tive season. An increase in habitat fragmentation was reflected in a 43% decrease in patch size, a 17% increase in the number of habitat patches and a 34% increase in inter-patch distance. However, the predicted changes in habitat availability and connectivity varied considerably between biogeographic regions: Whereas the great- est habitat losses with an increase in inter-patch distance were predicted at the southern and northern edges of the species’ Alpine distribution, the greatest increase in patch number and decrease in patch size is expected in the central Swiss Alps. Finally, both the number of isolated habitat patches and the number of patches crucial for maintaining the habitat network increased under the different variants of climate change. Focusing conservation action on the central Swiss Alps may help mitigate the predicted effects of climate change on population ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rehnus, Maik Bollmann, Kurt Schmatz, Dirk R. Hackländer, Klaus Braunisch, Veronika |
author_facet |
Rehnus, Maik Bollmann, Kurt Schmatz, Dirk R. Hackländer, Klaus Braunisch, Veronika |
author_sort |
Rehnus, Maik |
title |
Alpine glacial relict species losing out to climate change: The case of the fragmented mountain hare population (Lepus timidus) in the Alps |
title_short |
Alpine glacial relict species losing out to climate change: The case of the fragmented mountain hare population (Lepus timidus) in the Alps |
title_full |
Alpine glacial relict species losing out to climate change: The case of the fragmented mountain hare population (Lepus timidus) in the Alps |
title_fullStr |
Alpine glacial relict species losing out to climate change: The case of the fragmented mountain hare population (Lepus timidus) in the Alps |
title_full_unstemmed |
Alpine glacial relict species losing out to climate change: The case of the fragmented mountain hare population (Lepus timidus) in the Alps |
title_sort |
alpine glacial relict species losing out to climate change: the case of the fragmented mountain hare population (lepus timidus) in the alps |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://boris.unibe.ch/126990/1/Rehnus_GloChaBio2018.pdf https://boris.unibe.ch/126990/ |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(12.480,12.480,65.107,65.107) |
geographic |
Arctic Tive |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Tive |
genre |
Arctic Climate change Lepus timidus mountain hare |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change Lepus timidus mountain hare |
op_source |
Rehnus, Maik; Bollmann, Kurt; Schmatz, Dirk R.; Hackländer, Klaus; Braunisch, Veronika (2018). Alpine glacial relict species losing out to climate change: The case of the fragmented mountain hare population (Lepus timidus) in the Alps. Global Change Biology, 24(7), pp. 3236-3253. Wiley 10.1111/gcb.14087 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14087> |
op_relation |
https://boris.unibe.ch/126990/ |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14087 |
container_title |
Global Change Biology |
container_volume |
24 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
3236 |
op_container_end_page |
3253 |
_version_ |
1774715423097356288 |