Primates and Climate Change Flashcards
What is climate change?
- Climate change is a global **long term shift **in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth’s local , regional , and global climates
- Natural weather pattern changes
What is a climate change a result of ? What historic event is tied to climate change?
- Result of natural or human induced changes to land-use , solar radition , or atmospheric gas concetrations (greenhouse gases)
- Since the 1800s , human activities have been the main driver of climate change , primarily due to burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas
- Highly tied to industrial revolution in 1700s
What are the causes of climate change ?
“R.E.A.D. To Restock Cow Lilac Pools”
- Rapid industrialization
- Energy Use
- Agricultural Practices
- Deforestation
- Transport
- Resource extraction
- Consumer practices
- Livestock
- Pollution
What are the effects of climate change? Double R, UI, Double L (RRUILL)
- Rising temperatures
- Rising sea levels
- Unpredictable weather patterns (ex: drought and flooding )
- Increase in extreme weather events
- Land degradation
- Loss of biodiversity
What is global warming?
Global warming : the long term heating of Earth’s surface observed since the pre-industrial period due to human activities, primarily fossil fuel burning, which increases heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere.
What is the difference between Global Warming and Climate change? Are they interchangeable?
- Compared to climate change -global warming is ONLY CAUSED by human activities
- The term is** NOT INTERCHANGEABLE **with the term “climate change”
What is the difference between Weather and Climate?
- Different spatial and temporal scale
- Weather : atmospheric condtions that occur locally over short periods of time - from minutes to hours or days
-Ex: local weather and daily forecast
-Ex 2: rain, snow , clouds , winds , floods or thunderstorms - Climate : long term (usually at least 30 years ) regional or even global average of temperature , humidity , and rainfall patterns over seasons, years or decades.
What is global warming?
- Slide definition : Scientists attribute the global warming trend observed since the mid-20th century to the human expansion of the “greenhouse effect” - warming that results when the atmosphere traps heat radiating from earth toward space
- Simplified - Global warming trend has occured since the industrial revolution. Some ray emissions from the sun go into the atmosphere of the Earth and some do not. Some ray emissions stay inside the atmosphere due to carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas).
What effect increases that causes global warming?
- Increase of greenhouse effect gases will
- trap heat on earth
- do not allow heat to dissipate from earth
- this is what causes greenhouse effects
What are the 4 greenhouse gases?
- Carbon dioxide
- Methane
- Nitrus oxide
- Chlorofluorocarbons
Explain where the 4 greenhouse gases come from
- Carbon dioxide: burning fossil fuels and deforestation (fire), etc
- Methane : Landfills, oil and natural gas systems, agricultural activities (livestock and rice farming ), etc.
- Nitrus oxide : commerical and organic fertilizer production and use, burning fossil fuels and burning vegetation
- Chlorofluorocarbons (entirely of industrial origin) : manufacture of aerosol sprays, blowing agents for foams and packing materials, as solventsm and as refrigerants
How’s global warming changing climate processes? (7 reasons)
- More extreme stroms
- Heat waves
- Droughts
- Regional temperature and precipitation patterns
- Shifting vegetation zones
- Melting glaciers
- sea level rise
What are the two main factors affecting the current climate situation?
- Caused by human-induced effects
- Increasing carbom dioxide emissions with fewer forests to deal with the increase
Climate change and deforestation - How are these processes related?
- Forests and tress store carbon
- When they are degraded or completely cleared ,e.g. by fire, the stored carbons has the potential to be released back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and contribute to climate change
What are the 4 stages between forests and carbon dioxide?
- Intact forest ecosystems : capture carbon in vegetation and soil.
- Clearing and burning forests : releases carbon that had been stored in vegetation and soil
- Conversion: to pasture , agriculture , and urban areas produces ongoing emissions
- Regrowing forests : capture and accumulate carbon slowly over decades
Why are intact forests better than deforestation ?
Natural forests capture carbon dioxide.
Deforestation releases carbon dioxide.
Is reforestation enough when deforestation occurs?
- NO!
- Avoiding deforestation is better for the climate than reforestation
- There are immediate carbon emissions from deforestation (165 tons carbon/hectare)
- Whereas reforestation will gradually capture carbon and accumulate (2-5 tons carbon/hectare/year)
How does climate change impact primates?
- Habitat : which involves food, range, loss and fragmentation
- Physiological
- Disease
What are the 5 reasons climate change impacts vegetation?
- in some areas- increased precipitation and warmth may lead to improved plant growth
- Marked changes in phenology (timing of naturally recurring events e.g. flowering, fruiting , hibernation, migration)
- Fruiting patterns ex : many tree species in Lope, Gabon can only produce seeds when the temperature falls below 19 degrees celsius - Impacts leaf quality
- Driving changes on species dependent on these plants
- Increased temperatures may lead to plant stress, rapid loss and desertification
Chapman et al, 2005 did a study called “ A longterm evaluation of fruiting phenology : importance of climate change”. What were the results from the Kibale national park case study?
- Since 1903 Kibale is wetter , droughts less frequent and mean monthly maximum temp, has increased
- 12 years of phenology data:
- high temporal variability in ripe fruit variability
- Dramatic inter-annual variation in ripe fruit
- over time , more fruit has become available - but not for all species
What are the 6 reasons climate change impacts range shifts and animal distribution ?
- Changes to the climatic zones appropriate for plant species
- Species moving higher in latitude or altitude -but may not be able to move fast enough.
- There might be natural or human barriers (e.g. “grass ceiling” in the Peruvian highlands)
- Polar animals expected to be the most quickly and severely affected
- In other areas, animal adaptations will depend on changes to their food suplies
- may need to migrate up in altitude and latitude -which may not be possible
- May lose their resource base altogether
What could the current climate changes do to gelada populations?
- Dunbar (1998)- the lower altitudinal limit for geladas predicted to move upward.
- 500 m for every 2 degrees celcius in gloabl temp
- translates into a half of the land surface avaiable to geladas for each temp rise
- By 7 degrees celsius rise, gelada will only be found in isolated montane islands
What are the two physiological effects of climate change on primates? Explain each
- Metabolic rate
-small bodied
-high metabolic rates - more susceptible to warming temperatures - Hibernation and torpor
-may buffer species from the impacts of increased temperature
-alternatively could impact the availability /quality of required hibernation locations (tree holes)
How does climate change impact disease? What were the results of the study done by Nunn et al (2005)?
- Many pathogens are more likely to develop, survive, and spread under warmer and wetter conditions
- Geographical distribution and prevalence of these diseases expected to increase with climate change
- Nunn et al (2005)- vector-borne parasites (e.g., malaria , leishmaniasis, trypanosomiasis, etc) show a highly significant latitudinal gradient in species richness .
-**Greater abundnance where it is warmer and ther are more biting anthropods **
What were the results of the Barret et al 2013 paper on “Modeling Climate Change effects on Lemur parasites”?
- Parasite infection can reduce fitness and survival outcomes
- of known parasites, changes in current distributions ranged from a 7% contraction to a 60% expansion
- Overall, predicted net expansion - especially for those that are quite harmful
- Naive (often endangered )populations of lemurs will come into contact with new pathogens
why are species vulnerable because of climate change ?
- Species have the tendency to be harmfully/ unfavorably affected
- It is because of a variety of concepts including sensitivity or susceptibility to harm and lack of capacity to cope and adapt
What are the 5 species -typical biological traits most often associated with primate vulnerability ?
- Diet and Dietary specialization
- Life-history traits and phenology
- Biogeographical range, rarity and dispersal system
- Social system and behaviour
- Physical traits
Explain how diet and dietary specilization make primates vulnerable
- most primates are relatively flexible on dietary choices
- **specialist folivores are potentially vulnerable **
- Frugivores might benefit
Explain how life history traits and phenology make primates vulnerable
- Species with relatively slow life cycles , small litters , and low reproductive rates are particularly vulnerable to extinction
- number of generations required to allow genetic adaptation
Explain how Biological range, rarity and dispersal system make primates vulnerable
- restricted biogeographical range
- low densities
- limited dispersal abilities
- ^these are all vulnerable to climate change because they will struggle to recruit new individuals after a population crash and have limited ability to colonize new areas
Explain how social system and behaviour make primates vulnerable
- An individuals dependence on other for survival can reduce its flexibility to adapt to change
Explain how physical traits make primates vulnerable
- mode of locomotion
- brain size –> life history
- Body size –>life history
-small primates more vulnerable
Is Climate Change & the tropics are studied problem ?
- generally understudied problem - impacts in other regions (e.g. reduction in polar sea ice) are much more noticeable
What are the 5 issues of climate change occuring in the tropics?
- Expansion of tropical diseases
- rising sea levels will threaten islands and coasts
- increased frequency and power of tropical cyclones
- desertification in savannah/savannah mosaic
- even small perturbation to already threatened habitats may make situation critical for wildlife and people
- climate change interacts with existing threat
Bohr et al (2011) studied the effect of desertification on Primates. Which primates were these and what were the results
- Studied grey-brown mouse lemurs
- compared populations at 2 different habitats with different levels of humidity
- dryer areas had lower food availability and lemurs has to increase their ranging
- upper limit on home range
- migration necessary
Where have there been noticeable regional differences due to climate change ?
- The Americas
- Africa (including Madagascar)
- Asia
What are 5 reasons climate change has impacted the Americas
- higher heat /temperatures
- drier : reduced mean precipitation
- Increased extreme precipitation
- increased frequency and severity of El Nino and La Nina events
- Impact on primates
- habitat loss due to predicted shift from forest ot savannah woodlands.
- lower food availability for frugivores following El Nino
What are 5 reasons climate change has impacted Africa (including Madagascar)
- higher temperatures
- increased drought in West and South
- increased monsoon in West
- Increased frquency/ intensity of cyclones East (Including Madagascar)
- Impact on primates
- shift in diet (e.g baboons at Amboseli)
- Reduced density (e.g. vervets at Amboseli)
- Drought induced mortality in baboons in Namibia
- Cyclones/droughts impacting offspring survival in Malagasy primates
What are 4 reasons climate change has impacted Asia
- Increased temperature
- increased durations, intensity , frequency from heat waves
- increased in precipitation (except Central Asia)
- Impacts on Primates
- shifts in fruit masting = unpredicatable effects on primates
How is climate change predicted to influence humans? M.L.L
- Most felt in resource- dependent communities
- ex: Sub-Saharan Africa produces 2% of global carbon dioxide but is predicted to experience negative effects disproportionately
- Lower income households/poor households particularly at risk
- Lower drop yields leads to a reliance on forest products as a reactive adaptation
What was the first case reported in Madagascar? Which countries will suffer the most from climate change?
Last year or year before - recorded the first famine case because of climate change registered in Madagascar
* Poorest countries will most be affected- Madagascar is poorer
* Even though the population living there contaminate less and contribute less to climate change they will be most affected
* People cannot do agricultural to eat. It is so dry people will have nothing to eat.
* Tropics- Affects agriculture and the people live there . Plants won’t adapt, no recovery for animals and humans
Migrations of Human populations towards protected areas. What were the results of Wittemyer et al (2008) study? Where do protected areas get investments and what can they provide access to?
- Wittemyer et al (2008)- human population growth on the borders of 306 Protected Areas in 45 countries was doublle the rural populaiton growth elsewhere
- Protected Areas get investment from outside agencies and may provide:
- access to education , jobs , health clinics, better roads, infrastructure, employment opportunities
- more access to forest products to exploit (e.g. fuelwood , hunting, grazing areas)
Is climate change an additional reason to move close to parks ?
What were the two reasons Hartter and Goldman found for agriculturalists wanting to live near parks
The top reason given by agriculturalists for living near Kibale NP:
1. It improves and maintains desirable environmental conditions
2. timing and quantity of rainfall is better. Temperature is lower. Air quality, soil moisture and soil fertility improved.
is climate change an additional reason to move close to parks
Why is it a bad idea for human populations to live near protected areas?
- Dangerous precedent
- Disproportionately large human populations near the borders of Protected Areas threatens their viability
Costs to Living near parks
What does Joppa et al argue?
What are the costs ?
- Joppa et al (2009) argues that the analyses used by Wittemyer et al (2008) are flawed!
- Human population growth was not higher on Protected Area boundaries
The costs to living near parks are :
* crop- raiding
* risk of encounters with dangerous animals
* risk of zoonotic disease transfer
* restirction of access to resources
* conflict with park staff,etc
Primates and Climate Change
Why are primates expected to struggle due to climate change
Most primates are expected to struggle to adapt to rapid climate change because of their
* limited dispersal ability
* long generation times
* restricted ranges
Primates and Climate Change
Is it easy to predict how individual populations/species will respond?
- Very difficult to predict how individual populations/species will respond to climate change because of **the interaction between climate change and human habitat disturbance **
Primates and Climate Change
What are the 4 factors species response to climate change will depend on
- species- specific traits
- socio-ecology
- phenotypic and genetic plasticity
- how humans reduce climate change through policy , population management , and forest management
