PARENT SESSION
Oral Session #33: Climate Change. Presiding: A. Peterson.
Tuesday, August 7, 2001. 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Hall of Ideas E.
Using spatial data to address temporal hypotheses: A quantitative study of amphibian declines in the context of climate and environmental changes.
Guda, Nelson1, 1
ABSTRACT- Over the past several decades, amphibian populations in many parts of the world have experienced severe declines, and many of these declines have resulted in large scale extinctions of populations in some species. Recent research has demonstrated a convincing link with pathogens as the proximate agents of decline in a large number of cases. However, the question remains as to whether there is an ultimate global factor, such as climate change, underlying the declines. One of the difficulties in addressing this question is the lack of adequate data on the precise timing of many of the declines. In this study I investigated the relationships between amphibian declines across the United States and a variety of environmental change factors, including climate change. My results indicate that amphibian declines are predicted by the climatic effects of recent increases in the sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific. However there is no relation between declines and changes in UV levels. These results add quantitative support to the hypothesis that the global amphibian declines are related to recent climate change.
KEY WORDS: amphibian, conservation, climate, ENSO