Of Mice and Men—Lessons to be Learned from Small Mammals' Response to Climate Change
A recent paper published in the October 10 issue of Science by biologists at UC Berkley and Colorado State University confirms predicted impacts of climate warming, without the confounding effects of land-use change, by demonstrating how small mammals at Yosemite National Park in California have coped over the last century with increases in global temperatures. To do this, the biologist resurveyed a broad group of mammals that had been extensively surveyed by biologist Joseph Grinnell from 1914 to 1920. The results of the study showed that low-elevation species expanded their ranges upward, while high-elevation species typically contracted their range elevations. As predicted by climate-change models, the upward movement occurred at a rate of approximately 500 feet for every 3 degree (Celsius) increase in minimum temperatures. The study concluded that the protection of large-scale elevation gradients is key to protecting species diversity in the face of global climate change.
Perhaps there is a lesson here that planners and governments of cities such as Phoenix or Las Vegas, where unsustainable growth has been booming despite consistently hotter and drier seasons, can heed—that is, if the environment cannot support you, a change in behavior is called for. After all, if shrews and mice can adapt to changes in their environment, why can't the most evolved mammal on Earth?
Post authored by Jeanette C. Schuster, attorney practicing in the Sustainability and Real Estate and Land Use Groups.
