Climatic changes and the fate of mountain herbivores

Lovari, Sandro; Franceschi, Sara; Chiatante, Gianpasquale; Fattorini, Lorenzo; Fattorini, Niccolò; Ferretti, Francesco

doi:10.1007/s10584-020-02801-7

Cited by 41 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 107 publications

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“…Over the long term, however, climate change may impose further threats, such as a decrease in suitable habitats at higher elevations, which, in turn may cause a numerical decline of chamois populations (e.g., in Apennine chamois Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata, Lovari et al, 2020). Lower spring temperatures delay the snowmelt at high elevations which in turn delays the onset of plant growth and prolongs access to high-quality vegetation (Aublet et al, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved Overall, the future of chamois will not only depend on how the species will cope with changes in climatic conditions, but with a combination of different factors, including among other things, climate change (Lovari et al, 2020), land use (Ciach & Pęksa, 2019), hunting (Skonhoft et al, 2002), interspecific competition (Corlatti et al, 2019;Ferretti et al, 2015) and disease outbreaks (Rossi et al, 2019). The assessment of chamois population dynamics scenarios should thus consider the plasticity of the species with respect to all the aforementioned factors.…”

Section: Accepted Articlementioning

confidence: 99%

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Forests buffer the climate‐induced decline of body mass in a mountain herbivore

Reiner

Zedrosser

Zeiler³

et al. 2021

Global Change Biology

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Climate change is known to affect key life‐history traits, such as body mass, reproduction, and survival in many species. Animal populations inhabiting mountain habitats are adapted to extreme seasonal environmental conditions but are also expected to be especially vulnerable to climate change. Studies on mountain ungulates typically focus on populations or sections of populations living above the tree line, whereas populations inhabiting forested habitats are largely understudied. Here, we investigate whether forested areas can mitigate the impact of climatic change on life‐history traits by evaluating the interactive effects of temperature and habitat characteristics on body mass variation in the Alpine chamois Rupicapra rupicapra rupicapra. We examined data of 20,573 yearling chamois collected from 1993 to 2019 in 28 mountain ranges in the Austrian Eastern Alps, characterized by different proportion of forest cover. Our results show that the temporal decline of chamois body mass is less pronounced in areas with greater proportion of forest cover. For chamois living in forest habitats only, no significant temporal change in body mass was detected. Variation in body mass was affected by the interaction between density and snow cover, as well as by the interaction between spring temperatures and forest cover, supporting the role of forests as thermal buffer against the effects of increasing temperatures on life‐history traits in a mountain ungulate. In turn, this study suggests a buffering effect of forests against climate change impacts. Assessments of the consequences of climate change on the life‐history traits and population dynamics of mountain‐dwelling species should thus consider the plasticity of the species with respect to the use and availability of different habitat types.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Accepted Articlementioning

confidence: 99%

Forests buffer the climate‐induced decline of body mass in a mountain herbivore

Reiner

Zedrosser

Zeiler³

et al. 2021

Global Change Biology

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“…Our study helped unraveling a complex combination of extrinsic and intrinsic factors acting differentially on chamois demographic parameters. Although we found support for a strong negative effect of red deer abundance, density dependence and winter harshness on chamois demographic parameters, especially on the kid-female segment of the population, other drivers may impact chamois life traits, including vegetation productivity (Lovari et al, 2020) or climateinduced altitudinal shifts (Büntgen et al, 2017). Furthermore, a potential major limitation of the study is the inclusion of yearlings in the survival estimates for adult females and adult males.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

“…Besides density dependence, red deer abundance may also influence chamois demographic parameters. An additive effect of adverse climatic conditions (high temperatures and low rainfall during the growing season of vegetation) and competition with red deer, for example, was found to hamper female foraging behavior and kid survival in Apennine chamois (Ferretti et al., 2019), with potential long‐term effects on population dynamics (Lovari et al., 2020). Here, the positive relationship between spring–summer precipitation and birth rate was hampered by increasing deer abundance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling demographic effects of red deer on chamois population dynamics

Donini

Pedrotti

Ferretti

et al. 2021

Ecology and Evolution

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Investigating the impact of ecological factors on sex‐ and age‐specific vital rates is essential to understand animal population dynamics and detect the potential for interactions between sympatric species. We used block count data and autoregressive linear models to investigate variation in birth rate, kid survival, female survival, and male survival in a population of Alpine chamois Rupicapra rupicapra rupicapra monitored over 27 years within the Stelvio National Park, Central Italian Alps, as function of climatic variables, density dependence, and interspecific competition with red deer Cervus elaphus. We also used path analysis to assess the indirect effect of deer abundance on chamois growth rate mediated by each demographic parameter. Based on previous findings, we predicted that birth rate at [t] would negatively relate to red deer abundance at year [t − 1]; survival rates between [t] and [t + 1] would negatively relate to red deer abundance at year [t − 1] and to the interactive effect of winter precipitation at [t + 1] and chamois density at [t]. Our results showed that birth rate was positively related to spring–summer precipitation in the previous year, but this effect was hampered by increasing red deer abundance. Kid and female survival rates were negatively related to the combined effect of chamois abundance and winter precipitation. Male and female survival rates were negatively related to lagged red deer abundance. The path analysis supported a negative indirect effect of red deer abundance on chamois growth rate mediated by birth rate and female survival. Our results suggest that chamois population dynamics was largely explained by the synergistic effect of density dependence and winter harshness, as well as by interspecific competition with red deer, whose effects were seemingly stronger on the kid–female segment of the population.

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“…Although habitats may not be of equal quality at higher altitudes, and due to the conical shape of mountains habitat availability generally decreases with increasing elevation (e.g. Lovari et al, 2020). Thus, an overall decline in both habitat availability and suitability is possible in the long-term at all scales.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resource selection by the Endangered Arabian tahr: identifying critical habitats for conservation and climate change adaptation

Ross¹,

Rawahi²,

Jahdhami³

2021

Preprint

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The Arabian tahr is an Endangered mountain ungulate endemic to the Hajar Mountains of Arabia. The Arabian tahr population is in decline and threats to tahr habitat are intensifying, in addition new potential challenges from climate change are emerging. Fundamental to future conservation planning is understanding tahr habitat selection patterns, so we can prioritise habitat protection, and understand how habitat may be used to provide thermal refuge and allow adaptation to climate change impacts. We used GPS collars and resource selection functions to characterise Arabian tahr habitat preferences in Wadi Sareen Nature Reserve, Oman. We found tahr habitat selection was dependent on scale, sex and season. Vegetation resources were only selected at the smallest scales of selection and avoided at other scales. Habitat providing low heat load and thermal refuge were intensely selected at small and medium scales, by both sexes and in both seasons, suggesting the importance of thermal refuges in facilitating thermoregulation. Higher elevations, steep slopes and rugged habitats were selected across all scales tested here, and in previous landscape-scale studies, indicating the fundamental importance of these habitats in supporting Arabian tahr populations. Our results identified critical habitats required to sustain Arabian tahr, and demonstrated the importance of thermal refuges to species living in the hot climates such as the Arabian Peninsula. Given the accessibility of habitat layers, and ease in which the identified habitats can be mapped using a geographical information system, understanding the habitat selection of tahr and other species is a crucial step to increasing conservation management capacity of threatened species. Given our uncertainty of how to conserve wildlife under future climate change, understanding the availability and distribution of wildlife habitat is an important baseline from where we can plan, connect and preserve the resources necessary for wildlife conservation.

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Climatic changes and the fate of mountain herbivores

Cited by 41 publications

References 107 publications

Forests buffer the climate‐induced decline of body mass in a mountain herbivore

Forests buffer the climate‐induced decline of body mass in a mountain herbivore

Disentangling demographic effects of red deer on chamois population dynamics

Resource selection by the Endangered Arabian tahr: identifying critical habitats for conservation and climate change adaptation

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