As climate change alters habitats and disrupts ecosystems, where will animals move to survive? And will human development prevent them from getting there?
Now you can see those migrations in motion.
New research from Conservancy and university scientists revealed that only 41 percent of the natural land area in the United States retains enough connectivity to facilitate species tracking their preferred climate conditions as the global climate changes. As part of that study, scientists modeled the distribution and habitat needs of 2,903 vertebrate species in the Western hemisphere against land use and projected climate patterns.
Previous work mapped the geographic areas in the western hemisphere through which species will likely need to move to track their suitable climates. That study identified that the Amazon Basin, southeastern United States and southeastern Brazil are three areas with projected high densities of climate-driven movements.
Conservancy cartographer and analyst Dan Majka brought this data to life in a series of maps that show what corridors mammals, amphibians, and other animals will use as they move to new habitats under projected climate change. Inspired by wind maps of the United States, and using code from Earth global wind map, adapted by Chris Helm, Majka’s dynamic map allows scientists and the public to see the continent-wide impact of climate change on animals and visualize corridors they will need to move.
Check out the map above, and use the navigation tools in the upper-right to investigate migration patterns in both North and South America.
what animals are those that are migrating
My grattitude for all you do to save our wonderful planet.
What can we humans do to help? I know some places have and are hopefully building more animal bridges to help cougars and such get over interstates and bridges. I know using less electricity and fossil fuels will help slow down climate change. cant believe we live in thumpgang land who don’t understand or care what they do to the earth and its inhabitant’s.
Two of the most common recommendations I see are to take down or modify fences where they aren’t necessary and to conserve more corridors between areas that are already protected. You might be interested in this post with more detail: https://blog.nature.org/2016/06/29/species-on-the-move-mapping-barriers-for-wildlife-in-a-warming-world/ or this one specifically on fencing options: https://blog.nature.org/2017/06/26/how-pronghorn-cross-fence-wildlife-connectivity/
A very hypothetical map, but interesting to view. Good visual reminder of basic biogeographical principals, but I don’t expect the armadillos will make it to Nova Scotia.
I would have liked to see Australia and other continents, besides the Americas, modeled.
Thanks,
Cheers
Justine, love the graphic. Do you have similar for fish?
Thanks, Denise Wagner
Could this be the reason we are having more bear sightings in our area.? I live in central Massachusetts. I’ve also noticed the birds that I have coming to my feeders are acting differently. I live in an area where there is a mixture of woods and homes. Still quite a lot of woods.
I am surprised by the southward migration of reptiles as shown on the southern border of Texas and northern Mexico. It appears to show reptiles moving south to a warmer climate.
I’m a little confused by this map. The article talks about two things that involve animal movement: migration *and* shifts due to climate change. In this map, I do not see any delineation between the 1) the animal’s original migration route and 2) their new, shifted migration route due to climate change. It would also be useful to know how many of each taxa (mammals, amphibians and birds) are used in this map.
It’s a really cool moving map, but more information would be useful!
Life is to be treasures.
In the last number of years, I have noticed a great change in my backyard birds. I live in western Oregon, in Carlton. We used to get so many birds, it sounded like a jungle. We had grossbeaks, goldfinches, chickadees, etc etc, all summer long. Now there are hardly any of these… Sometimes in the spring and in the fall as they migrate, but the rest of the summer, none….. There are some birds around but not to the extent as in the past. Really sad…….