Impact of a century of climate change on small-mammal communities in Yosemite National Park, USA.
We provide a century-scale view of small-mammal responses to global warming, without confounding effects of land-use change, by repeating Grinnell's early-20th century survey across a 3000-meter-elevation gradient that spans Yosemite National Park, California, USA. Using occupancy modeling to control for variation in detectability, we show substantial ( approximately 500 meters on average) upward changes in elevational limits for half of 28 species monitored, consistent with the observed approximately 3 degrees C increase in minimum temperatures. Formerly low-elevation species expanded their ranges and high-elevation species contracted theirs, leading to changed community composition at mid- and high elevations. Elevational replacement among congeners changed because species' responses were idiosyncratic. Though some high-elevation species are threatened, protection of elevation gradients allows other species to respond via migration.
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. craigm@berkeley.edu
Craig
C
Moritz
James L
JL
Patton
Chris J
CJ
Conroy
Juan L
JL
Parra
Gary C
GC
White
Steven R
SR
Beissinger
D000064:Acclimatization; D000531:Altitude; D025041:Animal Migration; D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D002140:California; D002980:Climate; D017753:Ecosystem; D017752:Greenhouse Effect; D008322:Mammals; D011157:Population Dynamics; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors