Climate Change effects on wildlife and habitats

Human-caused climate change, including increasing temperature, changing frequency and severity of drought, precipitation, and storms, and increased weather variability, is affecting biodiversity from global to local scales. Species will have to adapt or move to deal with the many effects of climate change, and understanding and predicting how climate change influences species and ecosystems is crucial to conserving biodiversity. We are leading studies evaluating climate change's current and future effects on wildlife and the ecosystems and landscapes they inhabit.

Led by postdoctoral fellow Ellen Robertson (left) and funded by South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center, we are using citizen science databases (e.g., Cornell Lab of Ornithology's eBird; eBird-based distribution map in center) to evaluate effects of climate change and land cover change on migration timing and breeding distributions of birds in the southern Great Plains and beyond. Ellen is also using existing OSU datasets (e.g., for three-toed box turtle, right) to evaluate how fine-scale micro-climate and weather affect species movements and demography across thermal landscapes.

1200px-Three-toed_Box_Turtle_(Terrapene_

Led by postdoctoral fellow Dave Londe (left), and funded by South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center, we are conducting a study (co-led by Dr. Craig Davis) evaluating how climate change will affect wetland extent and habitat use by migratory shorebirds (middle and right) in the Great Plains. Much of this work will involve using large datasets to model bird occurrence (e.g., eBird data) in relation to wetland characteristics that vary with factors like climate, hydrology, and land use. However, Dave will also be trapping and satellite-tracking shorebirds to evaluate how they move within and between wetland complexes during migratory stopovers.

Led by master's student Matt Fullerton (at right in below photo), and funded by Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife Conservation & U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, we conducted a study of how inter-annual climate variability affects seasonal timing of nesting and offspring production for the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker (below inset) at its northwest range periphery in Oklahoma.

13403980_10106366280993670_6663661321770

Led by PhD student Samantha Cady (left, currently in Fuhlendorf & Davis labs at OSU; previously in O'Connell lab), we also contributed to a study evaluating effects of drought on breeding bird occurrence in the Great Plains. Sam's study, published in Global Change Biology, found that effects of drought vary among bird species and are dependent on the time scale and time window over which drought is measured (right).

As a PhD student, Scott also published a much-cited review paper (below) on the use of assisted colonization to mitigate effects of climate change for species unable to adapt or shift their range. This paper called for a broad approach to assisting range shifts that considers population genetics and landscape connectivity in addition to physically relocating populations.

Climate Change Publications (Loss Lab members in bold)

Robertson, E.P., La Sorte, F.A., Mays, J.D., Taillie, P.J., Ansley, R.J., O’Connell, T.J., Davis, C.A., Loss, S.R. 2024. Decoupling of bird migration from the changing phenology of spring vegetation green-up. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 121:e2308433121

Skurnack, A.M.E., Cady, S.M., Loss, S.R., O’Connell, T.J. 2024. Red-bellied woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) has increased abundance at a western range margin. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 135:425-433.

Elmore, J.A., Londe, D.W., Davis, C., Elmore, R.D., Fuhlendorf, S.D., Loss, S.R. 2024. Associations with landscape and local-scale wetland habitat conditions vary among migratory shorebird species during stopovers. Wildlife Biology e01132.

Londe, D.W., Davis, C.A., Loss, S.R., Robertson, E.P., Haukos, D.A., Hovick, T.J. 2024. Climate change causes declines and greater extremes in wetland inundation in a region important for wetland birds. Ecological Applications 34:e2930.

Ansley, R.J., Rivera-Monroy, V.H., Griffis-Kyle, K., Hoagland, B., Emert, A., Fagin, T., Loss, S.R., McCarthy, H.R, Smith, N.G., Waring, E.F. 2023. Assessing impacts of climate change on selected foundation species and ecosystem services in the South-Central USA. Ecosphere 14:e4412.

Londe, D.W., Joshi, O., York, B.C., Davis, C.A., Loss, S.R., Robertson, E.P., Haukos, D., Hovick, T.J. 2023. Climate change and wetlands in the Southern Great Plains: How are managers dealing with an uncertain future? Environmental Management 71:379-392.

Londe, D.W., Dvorett, D., Davis, C.A., Loss, S.R., Robertson, E. 2022. Inundation of depressional wetlands declines under a changing climate. Climatic Change 172:27. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-022-03386-z.

Robertson, E.P., Tanner, E.P., Elmore, R.D., Fuhlendorf, S.D., Mays, J.D., Knutson, J., Weir, J.R., Loss, S.R. 2022. Fire management alters the thermal landscape and provides multi-scale thermal options for a terrestrial turtle facing a changing climate. Global Change Biology 28:782-796.

Fullerton, M., Walters, J.R., Will, R., Loss, S.R. 2021. Inter-annual climate variation influences nest initiation date and nest productivity of the Red-cockaded Woodpecker at the northwestern edge of its range. Ornithological Applications 123:duab013.

Cady, S.M., O’Connell, T.J., Loss, S.R., Jaffe, N.E., Davis, C.A. 2019. Species-specific and temporal scale-dependent response of birds to drought in the U.S. Great Plains. Global Change Biology 25:2691-2702.

Loss, S.R., Terwilliger, L.T., Peterson, A.C. 2011. Assisted colonization: Integrating conservation techniques in the face of climate change. Biological Conservation 142:92-100.