Wildlife responses to climate change: North American case studies

Case studies examine ways in which local and regional climate variables affect butterfly populations and habitat ranges; how variations in ocean temparature have affected intertidal marine species; and the potential effect of reduced snow cover on plants in the Rocky Mountains.

Abstract

This text is the culmination of a three-year project to research and study the impacts of global climate change on ecosystems and individual wildlife species in North America. In 1997, the National Wildlife Federation provided fellowships to eight graduate students to conduct research on global climate change, this book presents the results. It features case studies which examine: ways in which local and regional climate variables affect butterfly populations and habitat ranges; how variations in ocean temparature have affected intertidal marine species; the potential effect of reduced snow cover on plants in the Rocky Mountains; the potential effects of climate change onthe distribution of vegetation in the United States; how climate change may increase the susceptability of ecosystems to invasions of non-species; and the potential for environmental change to alter interactions between a variety of organisms in whitebark pine communities of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem.