Aim Climate change alters the water cycle, potentially affecting the distribution of species. Using an ensemble of species distribution models (SDMs), we predicted changes in distribution of the Asian elephant in South Asia due to increasing climatic variability under warming climate and human pressures. Location India and Nepal. Methods We compiled a comprehensive geodatabase of 115 predictor variables, which included climatic, topographic, human pressures and land use, at a resolution of 1 km(2), and an extensive database on current distribution of elephants. For variable selection, we first developed 14 candidate models based on different hypotheses on elephant habitat selection. For each candidate model, a series of 240 individual models were evaluated using several metrics. Using three climatic and one land use change datasets for two greenhouse gas scenarios, ensemble SDMs were used to predict future projections. Results Nine predictor variables were selected for ensemble SDMs. Elephant distribution is driven predominantly by changes in climatic water balance (>60%), followed by changes in temperature and human-induced disturbance. The results suggest that around 41.8% of the 256,518 km(2) of habitat available at present will be lost by the end of this century due to combined effects of climate change and human pressure. Projected habitat loss will be higher in human-dominated sites at lower elevations due to intensifying droughts, leading elephants to seek refuge at higher elevations along valleys with greater water availability in the Himalayan Mountains. Main conclusions Changes in climatic water balance could play a crucial role in driving species distributions in regions with monsoonal climates. In response, species would shift their range upwards along gradients of water availability and seasonal droughts. Conservation and management of elephant populations under global change should include design of movement corridors to enable dispersal of the elephant and other associated species to more conducive environments.
1.CSIC, Dept Biogeog & Global Change, Natl Museum Nat Sci, Madrid, Spain 2.UFZ Helmholtz Ctr Environm Res, Dept Ecol Modeling, Leipzig, Germany 3.Wildlife Inst India, Dehra Dun, Uttar Pradesh, India 4.Univ Evora, Biodivers Chair, Evora, Portugal 5.Univ Copenhagen, Ctr Macroecol Evolut & Climate, Copenhagen, Denmark 6.Wildlife Trust India, CWRC, Kaziranga, India 7.Pondicherry Univ, Dept Ecol & Environm Sci, Pondicherry, India 8.Nat Conservat Fdn, Mysore, Karnataka, India 9.Leibniz Inst Zoo & Wildlife Res IZW, Dept Ecol Dynam, Berlin, Germany 10.Tech Univ Berlin, Dept Ecol, Berlin, Germany 11.Natl Trust Nat Conservat, Kathmandu, Nepal 12.IUCN Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal 13.Sigur Nat Trust, Masinagudi, India 14.Minist Environm Forest & Climate Change, Project Elephant Div, New Delhi, India 15.Euromediterranean Ctr Climate Change, IAFES Div, Sassari, Italy 16.German Ctr Integrat Biodivers Res iDiv, Leipzig, Germany 17.WWF Myanmar, Yangon, Myanmar
Recommended Citation:
Kanagaraj, Rajapandian,Araujo, Miguel B.,Barman, Rathin,et al. Predicting range shifts of Asian elephants under global change[J]. DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS,2019-01-01,25(5):822-838