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233 results for “climatic niche”

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dryad36/100

A biogeographical approach to characterising the climatic, physical and geomorphic niche of the most widely distributed mangrove species, Avicennia marina

Aim: Mangroves are coastal ecosystems exposed to terrestrial, marine, geomorphic and climatic forcings operating in concert, making the mangrove niche hard to define, as evidenced by extremely poor restoration outcomes. We have developed a set of high-resolution species distribution models and interpreted the variables that have the largest impact on the niche of Avicennia marina, the most globally widespread mangrove species, to comprehensively detail the forcings driving habitat suitability. Location: Australia. Time period: 1970–2020. Major taxa studied: Avicennia marina (Forssk.) Vierh. Methods: We modelled the suitable habitat for A. marina in Australia using the maxent method incorporating 38 environmental variables and the Global Mangrove Watch baseline for the presence records. Using k-means grouping we identified sub-regions where similar suites of environmental variables influence habitat suitability, while also identifying biogeographical commonalities among the sub-regions. To better understand the low realisation of the fundamental niche we analysed the other land covers occupying the niche. Results: A. marina in Australia occupies six different environmental sub-regions. Maxent distribution models accurately predicted the presence of A. marina in each subpopulation (AUC > 0.9). A. marina's presence in all sub-regions was strongly determined by its proximity to freshwater. Precipitation and temperature extreme values were more important than average values in predicting the species' presence. The species requires low-energy coastlines with high solar radiation. The suitable areas are primarily shared with salt marshes, seagrass and buildings or cleared land. Main conclusions: Our results offer a baseline for the suitable area of A. marina's presence that includes a range of environmental conditions, A. marina currently occupies <50% of its suitable habitat and there is scope for restoration with significant ecosystem service gains. The six different sub-regions in Australia map to known phylogenetically distinct populations indicating genetic plasticity in response to region-specific climatic conditions.

opencc-zeroOct 2022View details →

dryad36/100

Data from: Data for habitat quality or quantity? Niche marginality across 21 plants and animals suggests differential responses between highland and lowland species to past climatic changes

Climatic changes can affect species distributions, population abundance, and evolution. Such organismal responses could be determined by the amount and quality of available habitats, which can vary independently. In this study, we assessed changes in habitat quantity and quality independently to generate explicit predictions of the species' responses to climatic changes between Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and present day. We built ecological niche models and distribution models for 21 reptile, mammal, and plant taxa from the Baja California peninsula inhabiting lowland or highland environments. Geological data suggests the CCSM global circulation model is a better representation of LGM climate for the Baja California peninsula. Significant niche divergence was detected for all clades within species, along with significant differences in the niche breadth and area of distribution between northern and southern clades. Most clades showed a reduction in distribution area towards LGM. Further, niche marginality (used as a measure of habitat quality) was higher during LGM for most clades, except for northern highland species. Our results suggest that changes in habitat quantity and quality can affect organismal response independently. This allows the prediction of genomic signatures associated with changes in effective population size and selection pressure that could be explicitly tested to support our models.

opencc-zeroMay 2024View details →

dryad36/100

Data from: Too much of a good thing? Supplementing current species observations with fossil data to assess climate change vulnerability via ecological niche models

Ecological niche models (ENMs) are a powerful tool in ecological research and conservation planning. Since ENMs provide probability maps of suitable areas under environmental change, they may assist in designing conservation actions and addressing conservation priorities. However, ENMs are usually implemented by learning the species climatic preferences from their current geographic distribution, which leaves them vulnerable to the issue of niche truncation issues, as if comes with non-climatic limits to the current species distribution posed by e.g. anthropic activities and settlements, and is bound to assume that species are at equilibrium with their environments. These problems might be alleviated by the inclusion of fossil occurrences, which refer to moments during species evolution when such limits were absent, and a larger fraction of the species fundamental niche was probably explored. Here, we combined current and fossil occurrence data for 38 medium-large mammal species of conservation concern to assess the influence of the fossil record on ENM predictions under future climate change scenarios. We found that ignoring or including fossil data yields consistent trends in terms of predicted range increase/decrease. Yet, although adding fossil data invariably results in increased niche width, estimates of range change magnitude improved for just one half only of the species. These results suggest that most species might be in non-equilibrium with their environment, and that the inclusion of fossil data may be crucial to the better understanding of species climatic requirements, hence for designing effective conservation strategies.

opencc-zeroJun 2024View details →

dryad36/100

Dispersal syndromes are poorly associated with climatic niche differences in the Azorean seed plants

Aim: Environmental niche tracking is linked to the species ability to disperse. While well investigated on large spatial scales, dispersal constraints also influence small-scale processes and may explain the difference between the potential and the realized niche of species at small-scales. Here we test whether niche size and niche fill differ systematically according to dispersal syndrome within isolated oceanic islands. We expect species with higher dispersal abilities (anemochorous or endozoochorous) will have a higher niche fill, despite of their environmental niche size. Location: Azores archipelago Taxon: Native seed plants Methods: We combined a georeferenced database of the species distribution within the archipelago (Azorean Biodiversity Portal/GBIF) with an expert-based dispersal syndrome categorization and a high-resolution climatic grid (CIELO model). Using four climatic variables (Annual Mean Temperature, Mean Diurnal Range, Annual Precipitation, Precipitation Seasonality), we calculated a 4-dimensional hypervolume to estimate the niche size of each species. Niche fill was quantified as the suitable climatic space of the island that was occupied by the focal species. Results: Endozoochorous species display higher niche fill compared to epizoochorous and hydrochorous species, and larger niches than anemochorous and epizoochorous. Differences among the remaining groups are not significant neither for niche fill nor for niche size. Main Conclusions: Although endozoochorous species track their niche more efficiently at small-scales than other dispersal syndromes, the differences between dispersal syndromes are not consistent. The ability of a species to track its niche at small-scales is not tightly related to its dispersal syndrome. Although intuitively appealing, dispersal syndrome classifications might not be the most appropriate tools for understanding dispersal processes at small-scales.

opencc-zeroMay 2022View details →

dryad36/100

Niche dynamics of Memecylon in Sri Lanka: distribution patterns, climate change effects, and conservation priorities

Aim: Recent climate projections have shown that the distribution of organisms in island biotas is highly affected by climate change. Here, we present the results of the analysis of niche dynamics of a plant group, Memecylon on Sri Lanka, an island, using species occurrences and climate data. We aim to determine which climate variables explain current distribution, model how climate change impacts the availability of suitable habitat for Memecylon, and determine conservation priority areas for Sri Lankan Memecylon. Location: Sri Lanka Methods: We used georeferenced occurrence data of Sri Lankan Memecylon to develop ecological niche models and assess both current and future potential distributions under six climate change scenarios in 2041-2060 and 2061-2080. We also overlaid land-cover, and protected area maps and performed a gap analysis to understand the impacts of land-cover changes on Memecylon distributions and propose new areas for conservation. Results: Differences among suitable habitats of Memecylon were found to be related to patterns of endemism. Under varying future climate scenarios, endemic groups were predicted to experience habitat shifts, gains, or losses. The narrow endemic Memecylon restricted to the montane zone were predicted to be the most impacted by climate change. Projections also indicated that changes in species' habitats can be expected as early as 2041-2060. Gap analysis showed that while narrow endemic categories are considerably protected as demonstrated by their overlap with protected areas, more conservation efforts in Sri Lankan forests containing wide endemic and non-endemic Memecylon are needed. Main conclusions: This research helped clarify general patterns of responses of Sri Lankan Memecylon to global climate change. Data from this study are useful for designing measures aimed at filling the gaps in forest conservation on this island.

opencc-zeroFeb 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Data for: Recent range shifts of moths, butterflies, and birds are driven by the breadth of their climatic niche

Species are altering their ranges as a response to climate change, but the magnitude and direction of observed range shifts vary considerably among species. The ability to persist in current areas and colonize new areas plays a crucial role in determining which species will thrive and which decline as climate change progresses. Several studies have sought to identify characteristics, such as morphological and life-history traits, that could explain differences in the capability of species to shift their ranges together with a changing climate. These characteristics have explained variation in range shifts only sporadically, thus offering an uncertain tool for discerning responses among species. As long-term selection to past climates have shaped species' tolerances, metrics describing species' contemporary climatic niches may provide an alternative means for understanding responses to on-going climate change. Species that occur in a broader range of climatic conditions may hold greater tolerance to climatic variability and could therefore more readily maintain their historical ranges, while species with more narrow tolerances may only persist if they are able to shift in space to track their climatic niche. Here, we provide a first-filter test of the effect of climatic niche dimensions on shifts in the leading range edges in three relatively well-dispersing species groups. Based on the realized changes in the northern range edges of 383 moth, butterfly, and bird species across a boreal 1100 km latitudinal gradient over c. 20 years, we show that while most morphological or life-history traits were not strongly connected with range shifts, moths and birds occupying a narrower thermal niche and butterflies occupying a broader moisture niche across their European distribution show stronger shifts towards the north. Our results indicate that the climatic niche may be important for predicting responses under climate change and as such warrants further investigation of potential mechanistic underpinnings.

opencc-zeroFeb 2023View details →

zenodo36/100

Tracing the future of epidemics: Coincident niche distribution of host animals and disease incidence revealed climate-correlated risk shifts of main zoonotic diseases in China

This dataset contains host occurrence data from NACRC database and disease incidence data for the paper "Tracing the future of epidemics: Coincident niche distribution of host animals and disease incidence revealed climate-correlated risk shifts of main zoonotic diseases in China".

opencc-by-4.0Mar 2023View details →

dryad36/100