image: This is the Cerro de Pantiacolla ridge in southeastern Peru, viewed from the Palatoa River. view more
Credit: Graham Montgomery (University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT)
A study suggests that climate change is driving high-elevation tropical species to extinction. Climate change is driving many mountain-dwelling species to move upslope. Species living near mountain summits lack higher-elevation habitats to move into and are therefore predicted to decline or disappear. However, empirical evidence of such climate-driven, high-elevation species disappearances is scant. To determine whether mountaintop populations have been disappearing as predicted, Benjamin Freeman and colleagues conducted a survey of birds in 2017 on a remote Peruvian mountain that had previously been surveyed in 1985, covering the same ground at the same time of year and using the same methods as the historic survey. The authors found that species' ranges shifted upslope on average between the two surveys. Species historically found up to the mountaintop occupied a narrower elevation range and a smaller total land area in 2017 than in 1985. Most species historically found at the highest elevations declined in abundance. Eight species found near the mountaintop in the historic survey were not observed in the modern survey. The results suggest that in the survey area, climate warming is driving extinction, with species moving to progressively higher elevations until they run out of habitat. According to the authors, tropical, high-elevation species may be especially vulnerable to climate change.
Article #18-04224: "Climate change causes upslope shifts and mountaintop extirpations in a tropical bird community," by Benjamin G. Freeman, Micah N. Scholer, Viviana Ruiz-Gutierrez, and John W. Fitzpatrick.
MEDIA CONTACT: Benjamin G. Freeman, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, CANADA; tel: 778-680-5483; e-mail: benjamingfreeman@gmail.com
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