Impact of Climate Change on Future Suitability of the Sierra Nevada for Wolverines
The endeavor to ensure a viable population of the threatened wolverine to the mountains of California requires the characterization of suitable habitat.
Because range limits of wolverines are associated with springtime snowpack, current declines and projected further losses of snowpack and earlier onset of springtime snowmelt have the potential to severely impact populations of wolverines inhabiting national parks within the region. Consequently, future projections of snowpack on the basis of global climate models are needed to provide information upon which to base management decisions, such as whether or not a wolverine relocation program to bolster populations will be a suitable and effective strategy for their recovery. The land and resource managers of the national parks within the Sierra Nevada: Yosemite, Lassen, Sequoia & Kings Canyon, and Devils Postpile, require the tools and information necessary for their resource management planning for wolverines and other high alpine species.
This research downscales future climate scenarios and applies them to the modeling of snow accumulation and melt at fine-resolution spatial scales for regional ecological applications of the entire with analyses focussed on the 4 national parks. Detailed analyses will be made of modeled historical snowpack distributions and durations and a spatially explicit population model that is an extension of one that is currently being developed to support the wolverine recovery initiative. Future projections of snowpack distribution and duration will be analyzed to evaluate the suitability of future habitats and the potential success of wolverine recovery. Immediate application of research results will be applied to ongoing development of management plans for the national parks in the state, and iterative and interactive collaboration with NPS will result in study design and results that will provide important and necessary tools for adaptive management.
The endeavor to ensure a viable population of the threatened wolverine to the mountains of California requires the characterization of suitable habitat.
Because range limits of wolverines are associated with springtime snowpack, current declines and projected further losses of snowpack and earlier onset of springtime snowmelt have the potential to severely impact populations of wolverines inhabiting national parks within the region. Consequently, future projections of snowpack on the basis of global climate models are needed to provide information upon which to base management decisions, such as whether or not a wolverine relocation program to bolster populations will be a suitable and effective strategy for their recovery. The land and resource managers of the national parks within the Sierra Nevada: Yosemite, Lassen, Sequoia & Kings Canyon, and Devils Postpile, require the tools and information necessary for their resource management planning for wolverines and other high alpine species.
This research downscales future climate scenarios and applies them to the modeling of snow accumulation and melt at fine-resolution spatial scales for regional ecological applications of the entire with analyses focussed on the 4 national parks. Detailed analyses will be made of modeled historical snowpack distributions and durations and a spatially explicit population model that is an extension of one that is currently being developed to support the wolverine recovery initiative. Future projections of snowpack distribution and duration will be analyzed to evaluate the suitability of future habitats and the potential success of wolverine recovery. Immediate application of research results will be applied to ongoing development of management plans for the national parks in the state, and iterative and interactive collaboration with NPS will result in study design and results that will provide important and necessary tools for adaptive management.