As the planet warms, animals living in tropical mountains may find it increasingly difficult to shift to new areas, according to a new study. Tropical mountains are particularly at risk when the impacts of climate change combine with changes in land use and human pressures, Chiara Dragonetti, co-author of the study published in June, told Mongabay in a video call. Many mountain-dwelling species are endemic to those areas and can only tolerate climatic conditions within narrow limits, researchers have previously found. Higher altitudes may be the right temperature but the wrong habitat, and species already living at high altitudes can only shift so high. Eventually, animals can run out of safe space on a mountain in a pattern scientists have dubbed an “escalator to extinction.”  Changes in how mountain land is used can further limit animals’ movement. Dragonetti wanted to understand how mountain wildlife will fare in a warming world, while also considering land-use changes and the species’ dispersal abilities. She and her colleagues analyzed existing global datasets of distribution for 395 different mountain-dwelling species, including 361 birds and 34 mammals, breaking them down by animals that can easily disperse, such as birds, and those that can’t easily relocate, such as sloths. They then used computer models to project where these species could occur in 2050, under future high and low greenhouse gas emissions scenarios. The study found that under a high emissions scenario, wildlife would lose 16% more range (or places they can live) compared to a low emissions…This article was originally published on Mongabay

From Conservation news via This RSS Feed.