Predicting the effects of climate change on ecosystems and wildlife habitat in northwest Alaska: results from the WildCast project

We used a modeling framework and a recent
ecological land classification and land cover map
to predict how ecosystems and wildlife habitat in
northwest Alaska might change in response to increasing
temperature. Our results suggest modest increases in
forest and tall shrub ecotypes in Northwest Alaska by
the end of this century thereby increasing habitat for
forest-dwelling and shrub-using birds and mammals.
Conversely, we predict declines in several more open
low shrub, tussock, and meadow ecotypes favored by
many waterbird, shorebird, and small mammal species.