White-striped freetail bat in Tasmania – resident, vagrant or climate change migrant?

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 251
Author(s):  
Lisa Cawthen

The white-striped freetail bat (Austronomus australis) is distributed throughout mainland Australia, but historically has not been known from the island of Tasmania, off south-eastern mainland Australia. Between 2009 and 2012, echolocation calls identified as those of A. australis were recorded in Tasmania during bat call surveys. There are three hypotheses that could explain the discovery of this species in Tasmania: that A. australis is a previously undetected resident; it is a vagrant; or it is undergoing a southwards range expansion or shift. Based on the limited evidence available, including this species’ long-range flight capabilities (including over open water out to sea), I suggest that this species is a periodic vagrant to Tasmania and that monitoring is necessary to identify whether this species is undergoing a southwards range extension into Tasmania.

2008 ◽  
Vol 122 (2) ◽  
pp. 169
Author(s):  
Donald McAlpine ◽  
James D. Martin ◽  
Cade Libby

The first occurrence in New Brunswick of the Grey Fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), a threatened species in Canada, is documented based on a 4.3 kg subadult male trapped in the southwestern corner of the province. This is an approximate range extension of 135 km from the most northerly Maine occurrence and may reflect a larger North American range expansion underway since 1930-40, perhaps in response to warming climate.


BMC Ecology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna L. K. Nilsson ◽  
Thomas Skaugen ◽  
Trond Reitan ◽  
Jan Henning L’Abée-Lund ◽  
Marlène Gamelon ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Earlier breeding is one of the strongest responses to global change in birds and is a key factor determining reproductive success. In most studies of climate effects, the focus has been on large-scale environmental indices or temperature averaged over large geographical areas, neglecting that animals are affected by the local conditions in their home ranges. In riverine ecosystems, climate change is altering the flow regime, in addition to changes resulting from the increasing demand for renewable and clean hydropower. Together with increasing temperatures, this can lead to shifts in the time window available for successful breeding of birds associated with the riverine habitat. Here, we investigated specifically how the environmental conditions at the territory level influence timing of breeding in a passerine bird with an aquatic lifestyle, the white-throated dipper Cinclus cinclus. We relate daily river discharge and other important hydrological parameters, to a long-term dataset of breeding phenology (1978–2015) in a natural river system. Results Dippers bred earlier when winter river discharge and groundwater levels in the weeks prior to breeding were high, and when there was little snow in the catchment area. Breeding was also earlier at lower altitudes, although the effect dramatically declined over the period. This suggests that territories at higher altitudes had more open water in winter later in the study period, which permitted early breeding also here. Unexpectedly, the largest effect inducing earlier breeding time was territory river discharge during the winter months and not immediately prior to breeding. The territory river discharge also increased during the study period. Conclusions The observed earlier breeding can thus be interpreted as a response to climate change. Measuring environmental variation at the scale of the territory thus provides detailed information about the interactions between organisms and the abiotic environment.


Biologia ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 69 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Longying Wen ◽  
Huigen He ◽  
Yong Wang ◽  
Jimmy Gorimar ◽  
Mark Liu

AbstractThe Chinese Bulbul (Pycnontus sinensis) has an extensive distribution throughout southern China. Investigators have reported that the species has expanded its distribution range northward since 1995. We performed a literature review and analysis to examine the relationships between the range expansion of the species and the changes of climate and habitat. We found that the northward range expansion was associated with the increased temperature and human created habitat. We believe that the combination of the increased temperature and the ability to utilize human created habitat while maintaining genetic diversity resulted in the population increase and range expansion of the species. We suggest that increased temperature and human disturbance could lead to evolutionary and distributional changes of some species such as the Chinese Bulbul, therefore possibly making these species indicators of climate change.


2011 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison Aldous ◽  
James Fitzsimons ◽  
Brian Richter ◽  
Leslie Bach

Climate change is expected to have significant impacts on hydrologic regimes and freshwater ecosystems, and yet few basins have adequate numerical models to guide the development of freshwater climate adaptation strategies. Such strategies can build on existing freshwater conservation activities, and incorporate predicted climate change impacts. We illustrate this concept with three case studies. In the Upper Klamath Basin of the western USA, a shift in land management practices would buffer this landscape from a declining snowpack. In the Murray–Darling Basin of south-eastern Australia, identifying the requirements of flood-dependent natural values would better inform the delivery of environmental water in response to reduced runoff and less water. In the Savannah Basin of the south-eastern USA, dam managers are considering technological and engineering upgrades in response to more severe floods and droughts, which would also improve the implementation of recommended environmental flows. Even though the three case studies are in different landscapes, they all contain significant freshwater biodiversity values. These values are threatened by water allocation problems that will be exacerbated by climate change, and yet all provide opportunities for the development of effective climate adaptation strategies.


Check List ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 1077-1081 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham J. Holloway ◽  
Dimitrios E. Bakaloudis

Anthrenus dorsatus Mulsant & Rey, 1868 has been recorded from North Africa, Malta, and Iberia. During a recent visit to Thessaloniki, Greece, several Anthrenus species were collected, including A. dorsatus. The previously known distribution of A. dorsatus suggested that this species was restricted to the western Mediterranean basin, possibly with a coastal bias. This record extends the known range of A. dorsatus farther east and providing more evidence of range expansion in the pimpinellae species group across Europe, possibly driven by global climate change.


Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 831
Author(s):  
Roberta Marques ◽  
Juliano Lessa Pinto Duarte ◽  
Adriane da Fonseca Duarte ◽  
Rodrigo Ferreira Krüger ◽  
Uemmerson Silva da Cunha ◽  
...  

Lycoriella species (Sciaridae) are responsible for significant economic losses in greenhouse production (e.g., mushrooms, strawberries, and nurseries). The current distributions of species in the genus are restricted to cold-climate countries. Three species of Lycoriella are of particular economic concern in view of their ability to invade areas in countries across the Northern Hemisphere. We used ecological niche models to determine the potential for range expansion under future climate change scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5) in the distribution of these three species of Lycoriella. Stable environmental suitability under climate change was a dominant theme in these species; however, potential range increases were noted in key countries (e.g., USA, Brazil, and China). Our results illustrate the potential for range expansion in these species in the Southern Hemisphere, including some of the highest greenhouse production areas in the world.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document