PARENT SESSION
Oral Session # 31: Reserve Design and Planning.
Presiding: J Franklin
Tuesday, August 5. 1:30 PM to 5:00 PM, SITCC Meeting Room 105.
Extinctions of island reptiles under the combined effects of habitat fragmentation and a warming climate.
Foufopoulos, Johannes*,1, Kilpatrick, Marmaduke2, Ives, Anthony2, 1 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA2 University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA
ABSTRACT- We examine the effects of a natural fragmentation process caused by rising sea levels on the reptile communities of the Aegean Sea islands (Greece). Following the formation of the islands since the end of the last ice age, reptile populations have been disappearing in a predictable manner dependent on island size and age of isolation. We calculate extinction rates for each species taking historical, geographical and phylogenetic non-independecies into account. Taxa with lower population densities, habitat specialists and species with more northern current distributions have higher extinction rates even after correcting for confounding factors. We show that the elevated extinction rates of northern taxa are driven by their preferences for northern habitats that have also been disappearing at disproportionately high rates from the islands. As a result, habitat fragmentation under the warming climatic conditions prevailing since the last glacio-pluvial maximum has resulted in disproportionate disappearances of northern species from the region. Implications of these results for effective reserve design under an anticipated warmer future climate will be discussed.
Key words: Climate Change, Habitat fragmentation, Extinction, Reserve Design