Heterogeneous responses of temperate-zone amphibian populations to climate change complicates conservation planning

Erin L. Muths; Thierry A. Chambert; B. R. Schmidt; D. A. W. Miller; Blake R. Hossack; P. Joly; O. Grolet; D. M. Green; David S. Pilliod; M. Cheylan; Robert N. Fisher; R. M. McCaffery; M. J. Adams; W. J. Palen; J. W. Arntzen; J. Garwood; Gary M. Fellers; J. M. Thirion; Evan H. Campbell Grant; A. Besnard

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-17105-7

Heterogeneous responses of temperate-zone amphibian populations to climate change complicates conservation planning

Scientific Reports

By: Erin L. Muths, Thierry A. Chambert, B. R. Schmidt, D. A. W. Miller, Blake R. Hossack, P. Joly, O. Grolet, D. M. Green, David S. Pilliod, M. Cheylan, Robert N. Fisher, R. M. McCaffery, M. J. Adams, W. J. Palen, J. W. Arntzen, J. Garwood, Gary M. Fellers, J. M. Thirion, Evan H. Campbell Grant, and A. Besnard

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-17105-7

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Abstract

The pervasive and unabated nature of global amphibian declines suggests common demographic responses to a given driver, and quantification of major drivers and responses could inform broad-scale conservation actions. We explored the influence of climate on demographic parameters (i.e., changes in the probabilities of survival and recruitment) using 31 datasets from temperate zone amphibian populations (North America and Europe) with more than a decade of observations each. There was evidence for an influence of climate on population demographic rates, but the direction and magnitude of responses to climate drivers was highly variable among taxa and among populations within taxa. These results reveal that climate drivers interact with variation in life-history traits and population-specific attributes resulting in a diversity of responses. This heterogeneity complicates the identification of conservation ‘rules of thumb’ for these taxa, and supports the notion of local focus as the most effective approach to overcome global-scale conservation challenges.

Additional publication details
Publication type	Article
Publication Subtype	Journal Article
Title	Heterogeneous responses of temperate-zone amphibian populations to climate change complicates conservation planning
Series title	Scientific Reports
DOI	10.1038/s41598-017-17105-7
Volume	7
Year Published	2017
Language	English
Publisher	Nature
Contributing office(s)	Fort Collins Science Center
Description	Article 17102; 10 p.
First page	1
Last page	10
Country	France, Germany, United States
Google Analytic Metrics	Metrics page