Habitat restoration opportunities, climatic niche contraction, and conservation biogeography in California's San Joaquin Desert

Autor: Michael Westphal, Joseph A. E. Stewart, Erin N. Tennant, David J. Germano, H. Scott Butterfield, Barry Sinervo, Jonathan Q. Richmond
Přispěvatelé: Sheppard, James K
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
0106 biological sciences
Atmospheric Science
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Conservation Biology
Endangered species
Social Sciences
Introduced species
01 natural sciences
Geographical locations
California
Models
Natural Resources
Land Use
Conservation Science
2. Zero hunger
Climatology
Multidisciplinary
Geography
Ecology
Eukaryota
Lizards
Agriculture
Plants
Habitats
Phylogeography
Habitat
Medicine
Desert Climate
Research Article
Conservation of Natural Resources
Life on Land
General Science & Technology
Climate Change
Science
Human Geography
010603 evolutionary biology
Models
Biological

Umbrella species
Animals
Grasses
Restoration ecology
Ecosystem
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Ecological niche
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Endangered Species
Organisms
Biology and Life Sciences
15. Life on land
Biological
United States
Climate Action
Habitat destruction
13. Climate action
Threatened species
North America
Earth Sciences
People and places
Zdroj: PLoS ONE, Vol 14, Iss 1, p e0210766 (2019)
PloS one, vol 14, iss 1
PLoS ONE
ISSN: 1932-6203
Popis: A recent global trend toward retirement of farmland presents opportunities to reclaim habitat for threatened and endangered species. We examine habitat restoration opportunities in one of the world’s most converted landscapes, California’s San Joaquin Desert (SJD). Despite the presence of 35 threatened and endangered species, agricultural expansion continues to drive habitat loss in the SJD, even as marginal farmland is retired. Over the next decades a combination of factors, including salinization, climate change, and historical groundwater overdraft, are projected to lead to the retirement of more than 2,000 km2 of farmland in the SJD. To promote strategic habitat protection and restoration, we conducted a quantitative assessment of habitat loss and fragmentation, habitat suitability, climatic niche stability, climate change impacts, habitat protection, and reintroduction opportunities for an umbrella species of the SJD, the endangered blunt-nosed leopard lizard (Gambelia sila). We use our suitability models, in conjunction with modern and historical land use maps, to estimate the historical and modern rate of habitat loss to development. The estimated amount of habitat lost since the species became protected under endangered species law in 1967 is greater than the total amount of habitat currently protected through public ownership and conservation easement. We document climatic niche contraction and associated range contraction away from the more mesic margins of the species’ historical distribution, driven by the anthropogenic introduction of exotic grasses and forbs. The impact of exotic species on G. sila range dynamics appears to be still unfolding. Finally, we use NASA fallowed area maps to identify 610 km2 of fallowed or retired agricultural land with high potential to again serve as habitat. We discuss conservation strategies in light of the potential for habitat restoration and multiple drivers of ongoing and historical habitat loss.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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