WILDLIFE RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE

By CHARLOTTE SANCHEZ

CONTENTS CLIMATE CHANGE: OVERVIEW AND IMPLICATIONS FOR WILDLIFE CHAPTER 1 CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS EFFECT ON SPECIES RANGE BOUNDARIES: A CASE STUDY OF THE SACHEM SKIPPER BUTTERFLY, ATALOPEDES CAMPESTRIS CHAPTER 2 BUTTERFLIES AS MODEL SYSTEMS FOR UNDERSTANDING AND PREDICTING CLIMATE CHANGE CHAPTER 3 HISTORICAL STUDIES OF SPECIES’ RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE: PROMISES AND PITFALLS CHAPTER 4 COMMUNITY RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE: LINKS BETWEEN TEMPERATURE AND KEYSTONE PREDATION IN A ROCKY INTERTIDAL SYSTEM CHAPTER 5 TESTING CLIMATE CHANGE PREDICTIONS WITH THE SUBALPINE SPECIES DELPHINIUM NUTTALLIANUM CHAPTER 6 MODELING POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF VEGETATION IN THE UNITED STATES WITH A PROBABILISTIC BIOGEOGRAPHY APPROACH CHAPTER 7 CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE SUSCEPTIBILITY OF U S ECOSYSTEMS TO BIOLOGICAL INVASIONS: TWO CASES OF EXPECTED RANGE EXPANSION CHAPTER 8 CLIMATE CHANGE, WHITEBARK PINE, AND GRIZZLY BEARS IN THE GREATER YELLOWSTONE ECOSYSTEM CLIMATE CHANGE: OVERVIEW AND IMPLICATIONS FOR WILDLIFE SYNERGISMS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND ECOLOGY THE EARTH’S CLIMATE IS VASTLY DIFFERENT NOW FROM WHAT IT WAS MILLION YEARS AGO WHEN DINOSAURS ROAMED THE PLANET AND TROPICAL PLANTS THRIVED CLOSER TO THE POLES IT IS DIFFERENT FROM WHAT IT WAS ONLY 20,000 YEARS AGO WHEN ICE SHEETS COVERED MUCH OF THE NORTH- ERN HEMISPHERE ALTHOUGH THE EARTH’S CLIMATE WILL SURELY CONTINUE TO CHANGE, CLIMATIC CHANGES IN THE DISTANT PAST WERE DRIVEN BY NAT- URAL CAUSES, SUCH AS VARIATIONS IN THE EARTH’S ORBIT OR THE CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2) CONTENT OF THE ATMOSPHERE FUTURE CLIMATIC CHANGES, HOWEVER, WILL PROBABLY HAVE ANOTHER SOURCE AS WELL—HUMAN ACTIVI- TIES HUMANS CANNOT DIRECTLY RIVAL THE POWER OF NATURAL FORCES DRI- VING THE CLIMATE—FOR EXAMPLE, THE IMMENSE ENERGY INPUT TO THE EARTH FROM THE SUN THAT POWERS THE CLIMATE WE CAN, HOWEVER, INDI- RECTLY ALTER THE NATURAL FLOWS OF ENERGY ENOUGH TO CREATE SIGNIFICANT CLIMATIC CHANGES THE BEST-KNOWN WAY PEOPLE COULD INADVERTENTLY MODIFY CLIMATE IS BY ENHANCING THE NATURAL CAPACITY OF THE ATMOSPHERE TO TRAP RADI- ANT HEAT NEAR THE EARTH’S SURFACE—THE SO-CALLED GREENHOUSE EFFECT THIS NATURAL PHENOMENON ALLOWS SOLAR ENERGY THAT REACHES THE EARTH’S SURFACE TO WARM THE CLIMATE GASES IN THE ATMOSPHERE SUCH