Climate change increases predation risk for a keystone species of the boreal forest

Peers, Michael J. L.; Majchrzak, Yasmine N.; Menzies, Allyson K.; Studd, Emily K.; Bastille‐Rousseau, Guillaume; Boonstra, Rudy; Humphries, Murray M.; Jung, Thomas S.; Kenney, Alice J.; Murray, Dennis L.; Boutin, Stan

doi:10.1038/s41558-020-00908-4

Cited by 47 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Overall, predation plays an important role in the above mentioned North American ecosystems, yet bottom-up processes and especially abiotic factors, such as climate, are main drivers of variation in prey population dynamics [56]. Climate can drive predation to be more or less additive from year to year [33] and may determine where predation affects prey the most, e.g., depending on snow depth [57,58]. Nevertheless, evidence on trophic cascades driven by apex predators comes today from an increasing number of study areas and involving different prey and plant communities, as well as reflects on a wide variety of ecosystem characteristics [35,[59][60][61][62].…”

Section: Of Wolves and Bears And Beyond-examples Of Apex Predator Efmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Human Disturbance on Terrestrial Apex Predators

et al. 2021

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The effects of human disturbance spread over virtually all ecosystems and ecological communities on Earth. In this review, we focus on the effects of human disturbance on terrestrial apex predators. We summarize their ecological role in nature and how they respond to different sources of human disturbance. Apex predators control their prey and smaller predators numerically and via behavioral changes to avoid predation risk, which in turn can affect lower trophic levels. Crucially, reducing population numbers and triggering behavioral responses are also the effects that human disturbance causes to apex predators, which may in turn influence their ecological role. Some populations continue to be at the brink of extinction, but others are partially recovering former ranges, via natural recolonization and through reintroductions. Carnivore recovery is both good news for conservation and a challenge for management, particularly when recovery occurs in human-dominated landscapes. Therefore, we conclude by discussing several management considerations that, adapted to local contexts, may favor the recovery of apex predator populations and their ecological functions in nature.

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Section: Of Wolves and Bears And Beyond-examples Of Apex Predator Efmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Human Disturbance on Terrestrial Apex Predators

et al. 2021

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“…It is quite reasonable to think that coyotes are competitors because they are generally found across the southern range apart from a few areas within the boreal forest in Ontario (Figure S3). Predation by coyotes on snowshoe hares might be a mechanism for competition, as has been demonstrated in the Yukon (Peers et al 2020). Bobcats on the other hand occupied a very small area and generally occurred in the south of the west and central zones (Figure S4).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

“…Marrotte, Bowman, and Wilson (2020) found that deep winter snow in the Great Lakes region limited bobcat expansion northward, suggesting that greater expansion will result from additional climate warming. Recently, Peers et al (2020) found that while snow depth has decreased across their study area in the boreal forest, snowshoe hare survival decreased while predation by coyotes increased in areas with shallow snow.…”

Section: Climate Change Will Also Open Formerly Inhospitable Habitatmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This might be one factor that has hindered the bobcat from invading Canada lynx territory in the past (Marston, 1942;McCord, 1974;Murray et al 2008;Parker et al 1983). However, since the climate is warming, and snow depths across the southern periphery of the lynx range are shallower, southern competitors might be less hindered by snow, increasing their competitive potential (Buskirk, 2000;Peers et al 2020;Ruediger et al 2000;Scully et al 2018). In fact, Parker et al (1983) found that after several years of low snow the bobcat invaded the lowlands of Cape Breton while the Canada lynx left the area.…”

Section: Climate Change Will Also Open Formerly Inhospitable Habitatmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Seven decades of southern range dynamics of Canada lynx

Marrotte

Bowman

2021

Ecology and Evolution

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Over the past century, the range of many species has changed, often attributed to climate change and land cover modification (Laliberte & Ripple, 2004;Thomas, 2010;Walther et al. 2002). A species can respond to environmental changes by exploiting resources at the extremities of its niche (Sexton et al. 2017), by phenotypic plasticity (Nicotra et al. 2010;Valladares et al. 2014) or by adaptation (Williams et al. 2008). However, the rate at which current conditions are changing might make adaptation impossible for many species because the process of natural selection is too slow (Davis & Shaw, 2001). Consequently, species will have to track their bioclimatic niche (Visser, 2008) and their ability to do so will influence their persistence (Bell & Gonzalez, 2011;Schloss et al. 2012;Travis et al. 2013).Terrestrial species that have ranges near the poles will be limited in their ability to track climate because they are limited by the availability of space to move to higher latitudes (Kerr & Packer, 1998).Therefore, many unique cold adapted species will eventually perish unless they have sufficient phenotypic plasticity or somehow adapt to warmer conditions and to new biotic interactions. Understanding how and why the warmer range edge of cold adapted species has

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“…Accurate estimates of SCP are highly relevant for improving atmospheric reanalysis [54], climate predictions [55], and climate projections. To overcome the shortage of individual datasets in the SCP retrieve, in situ measurements are highly dependent on the location (latitude and elevation) and limited in spatial coverage, visible and near-infrared satellite data are largely influenced by cloud coverage, and it is difficult to distinguish wet and shallow snow in PM snow maps, this study employed the combination of MOD10C2 and IMS prior to the retrieval of SCP matrices.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution and Attribution of Terrestrial Snow Cover Phenology Changes over the Northern Hemisphere during 2001–2020

Chen

Yang

et al. 2021

Remote Sensing

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Snow cover phenology has exhibited dramatic changes in the past decades. However, the distribution and attribution of the hemispheric scale snow cover phenology anomalies remain unclear. Using satellite-retrieved snow cover products, ground observations, and reanalysis climate variables, this study explored the distribution and attribution of snow onset date, snow end date, and snow duration days over the Northern Hemisphere from 2001 to 2020. The latitudinal and altitudinal distributions of the 20-year averaged snow onset date, snow end date, and snow duration days are well represented by satellite-retrieved snow cover phenology matrixes. The validation results by using 850 ground snow stations demonstrated that satellite-retrieved snow cover phenology matrixes capture the spatial variability of the snow onset date, snow end date, and snow duration days at the 95% significance level during the overlapping period of 2001–2017. Moreover, a delayed snow onset date and an earlier snow end date (1.12 days decade−1, p < 0.05) are detected over the Northern Hemisphere during 2001–2020 based on the satellite-retrieved snow cover phenology matrixes. In addition, the attribution analysis indicated that snow end date dominates snow cover phenology changes and that an increased melting season temperature is the key driving factor of snow end date anomalies over the NH during 2001–2020. These results are helpful in understanding recent snow cover change and can contribute to climate projection studies.

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Climate change increases predation risk for a keystone species of the boreal forest

Cited by 47 publications

References 41 publications

Effects of Human Disturbance on Terrestrial Apex Predators

Effects of Human Disturbance on Terrestrial Apex Predators

Seven decades of southern range dynamics of Canada lynx

Distribution and Attribution of Terrestrial Snow Cover Phenology Changes over the Northern Hemisphere during 2001–2020

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