How will Mammals in the Alpine Zone of the Sierra Nevada Mountains Respond to Future Climate?

Our study addresses the general question of the degree to which wildlife species can adapt to, or possibly even modify, effects from climate change. We focused on five species of mammals in the alpine zone of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, including the federally endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep and the American pika, a species recently proposed for listing due to the loss of populations from altered climatic conditions. It was expected that there will be an upward expansion of trees and shrubs from lower elevations and that many or even most alpine meadows will be converted to woody dominated communities. Meadows provide critical habitat for many alpine mammal species, and their conversion could represent...

Categories: Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2009, CASC, Completed, Mammals, Mammals, All tags... National CASC, National CASC, Projects by Region, Sierra Nevada, Wildlife and Plants, Wildlife and Plants, bighorn sheep, pika, Fewer tags