Vulnerability to climate change and sea-level rise of the 35th biodiversity hotspot, the Forests of East Australia

Bellard, Céline; Leclerc, Camille; Hoffmann, Benjamin D.; Courchamp, Franck

doi:10.1017/s037689291500020x

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 59 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…We predict that bat survival in Australia is likely to decline outside of such climate refugia during droughts, given canopy invertebrates decline during droughts [ 63 ], and collapses were observed in other fauna groups [ 23 , 33 , 34 ]. Climate change is forecasted to be widespread in the forests of eastern Australia [ 64 ] and forests may become increasingly vulnerable to tree mortality in response to future warming and drought [ 65 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest bat population dynamics over 14 years at a climate refuge: Effects of timber harvesting and weather extremes

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Long-term data are needed to explore the interaction of weather extremes with habitat alteration; in particular, can ‘refugia’ buffer population dynamics against climate change and are they robust to disturbances such as timber harvesting. Because forest bats are good indicators of ecosystem health, we used 14 years (1999–2012) of mark-recapture data from a suite of small tree-hollow roosting bats to estimate survival, abundance and body condition in harvested and unharvested forest and over extreme El Niño and La Niña weather events in southeastern Australia. Trapping was replicated within an experimental forest, located in a climate refuge, with different timber harvesting treatments. We trapped foraging bats and banded 3043 with a 32% retrap rate. Mark-recapture analyses allowed for dependence of survival on time, species, sex, logging treatment and for transients. A large portion of the population remained resident, with a maximum time to recapture of nine years. The effect of logging history (unlogged vs 16–30 years post-logging regrowth) on apparent survival was minor and species specific, with no detectable effect for two species, a positive effect for one and negative for the other. There was no effect of logging history on abundance or body condition for any of these species. Apparent survival of residents was not strongly influenced by weather variation (except for the smallest species), unlike previous studies outside of refugia. Despite annual variation in abundance and body condition across the 14 years of the study, no relationship with extreme weather was evident. The location of our study area in a climate refuge potentially buffered bat population dynamics from extreme weather. These results support the value of climate refugia in mitigating climate change impacts, though the lack of an external control highlights the need for further studies on the functioning of climate refugia. Relatively stable population dynamics were not compromised by timber harvesting, suggesting ecologically sustainable harvesting may be compatible with climate refugia.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest bat population dynamics over 14 years at a climate refuge: Effects of timber harvesting and weather extremes

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…land-use change, increased poaching, and bushmeat consumption) and species' abilities to adapt (e.g. relocate and seek refugia) (Bellard et al, 2016; Bradley et al, 2012).…”

Section: Effects Of Climate Change: Biodiversity and Peoplementioning

confidence: 99%

Indigenous peoples' displacement and jaguar survival in a warming planet

Craighead¹,

Yacelga²

2021

Glob. Sustain.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Non-technical summary Climate change threatens tropical forests, ecosystem services, and indigenous peoples. The effects of climate change will force the San Blas Island communities of the indigenous Guna people to relocate to one of the most extensive, intact forests in Panama. In this paper, we argue that the impacts of climate change, and the proposed resettlement, will synergistically affect the jaguar. As apex predators, jaguars are sensitive to landscape change and require intact forests with ample prey to survive. Proactively planning for the intrinsically related issues of climate change, human displacement, and jaguar conservation is a complex but essential management task. Technical summary Tropical rainforest, coastal, and island communities are on the front line of increasing temperatures and sea-level rise associated with climate change. Future impacts on the interconnectedness of biological and cultural diversity (biocultural heritage) remain unknown. We review the interplay between the impacts of climate change and the displacement of the indigenous Guna people from the San Blas Islands, the relocation back to their mainland territory, and the implications for jaguar persistence. We highlight one of the most significant challenges to using resettlement as an adaptive strategy to climate change, securing a location where the Guna livelihoods, traditions, and culture may continue without significant change while protecting ecosystem services (e.g. biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and water). We posit that developing management plans that strive to meet social needs without sacrificing environmental principles will meet these objectives. Social media summary A biocultural approach increases adaptive capacity for ecological and human social systems threatened by climate change.

show abstract

“…In addition to our aim of using SCR to model density, annual banding over 20 years since 1999 provided us with the opportunity to assess changes in density over time within this montane climate refuge. Banding spanned a period of increasing warmer climate reflecting global climate change (Bellard et al, 2015 ) as well as wet and dry periods, including the Australian “Millennium drought” (1997–2010) (Verdon‐Kidd & Kiem, 2009 ) and another severe drought that led to megafires in the Australian summer of 2019–2020 (although the study area did not burn). Survival analysis based on the first 14 years of these banding data revealed a large portion of the population remained resident, with a maximum time to recapture of 9 years (Law et al, 2018 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating density of forest bats and their long‐term trends in a climate refuge

Law

Brassil

Proud³

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

For many species, estimating density is challenging, but it is important for conservation planning and understanding the functional role of species. Bats play key ecological roles, yet little is known about their free-ranging density. We used a long-term banding study of four species caught in an extensively forested climate refuge and spatial capture-recapture models (SCR) to estimate density and its change over time.Between 1999 and 2020, there were 3671 captures of four bat species, which were all edge-space foragers. Recaptures represented 16% (n = 587) of all captures, of which 89 were between-trap-cluster movements. Closed spatial mark-recapture models es-

show abstract

Vulnerability to climate change and sea-level rise of the 35th biodiversity hotspot, the Forests of East Australia

Cited by 8 publications

References 59 publications

Forest bat population dynamics over 14 years at a climate refuge: Effects of timber harvesting and weather extremes

Forest bat population dynamics over 14 years at a climate refuge: Effects of timber harvesting and weather extremes

Indigenous peoples' displacement and jaguar survival in a warming planet

Estimating density of forest bats and their long‐term trends in a climate refuge

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About