Sea-Level Rise and Florida’s Island Biodiversity
While islands are some of the most biodiverse places on earth, they are also among the most threatened. Researchers from WARC and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are assessing the vulnerability of Florida’s coastal islands to inundation from sea-level rise and estimating potential loss of the terrestrial biodiversity on Florida’s islands.
The Science Issue and Relevance: Florida’s coastline is surrounded by thousands of low-lying islands, many of which are home to species that occur nowhere else, such as the Cedar Key Mole Skink (Plestiodon egregius insularis), the Sanibel Island Rice Rat (Oryzomys palustris sanibeli), and the Key Ring-Necked Snake (Diadophis punctatus acricus). The capacity of island-dwelling species to adapt to changing conditions including sea-level rise is limited because many species do not have the ability to shift their distribution off the island to track favorable conditions and colonize new areas. Researchers assessed the vulnerability of Florida’s coastal islands to inundation from sea-level rise and estimated the potential loss of terrestrial vertebrate biodiversity on Florida’s islands.
Methodology for Addressing the Issue: Using rasters of predicted sea-level rise produced by NOAA, researchers predicted how Florida’s coastal islands may be impacted from future sea-level rise. To estimate the island vertebrate biodiversity that could be lost to sea-level rise, a list was compiled of reptile, amphibian, and mammal species on Florida’s list of Species of Greatest Conservation Need that have some or all their distribution on islands.
Future Steps: This work suggests that Florida’s islands harbor a considerable number of endemic taxa (species that occur only on those islands) that are vulnerable to extinction from sea-level rise. Additionally, many other coastal species whose ranges extend to islands may experience less certain population impacts.
Sea level rise and Florida’s insular vertebrate biodiversity: predictions of island inundation and the number of coastal species vulnerable to sea level rise
Sea level rise threatens Florida’s insular vertebrate biodiversity
While islands are some of the most biodiverse places on earth, they are also among the most threatened. Researchers from WARC and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are assessing the vulnerability of Florida’s coastal islands to inundation from sea-level rise and estimating potential loss of the terrestrial biodiversity on Florida’s islands.
The Science Issue and Relevance: Florida’s coastline is surrounded by thousands of low-lying islands, many of which are home to species that occur nowhere else, such as the Cedar Key Mole Skink (Plestiodon egregius insularis), the Sanibel Island Rice Rat (Oryzomys palustris sanibeli), and the Key Ring-Necked Snake (Diadophis punctatus acricus). The capacity of island-dwelling species to adapt to changing conditions including sea-level rise is limited because many species do not have the ability to shift their distribution off the island to track favorable conditions and colonize new areas. Researchers assessed the vulnerability of Florida’s coastal islands to inundation from sea-level rise and estimated the potential loss of terrestrial vertebrate biodiversity on Florida’s islands.
Methodology for Addressing the Issue: Using rasters of predicted sea-level rise produced by NOAA, researchers predicted how Florida’s coastal islands may be impacted from future sea-level rise. To estimate the island vertebrate biodiversity that could be lost to sea-level rise, a list was compiled of reptile, amphibian, and mammal species on Florida’s list of Species of Greatest Conservation Need that have some or all their distribution on islands.
Future Steps: This work suggests that Florida’s islands harbor a considerable number of endemic taxa (species that occur only on those islands) that are vulnerable to extinction from sea-level rise. Additionally, many other coastal species whose ranges extend to islands may experience less certain population impacts.