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A Few Winners, But Many More Losers

By Guest PostApril 9, 2014Environment, Naturebe good scientists, biomedicine, clayton morrison, climate change, david danielson, desert tortoise, habitat loss, ilan gur, innovation gap, mihai surdeanu, new mexico, northern arizona university, pascale ehrenfreund, raising computers, reach project, sebastien lounis, shift, steven kaye, tele handshake, U.S. Geological Survey, university, western united states

Southwestern Bird and Reptile Distributions to Shift as Climate Changes

Dramatic distribution losses and a few major distribution gains are forecasted for southwestern bird and reptile species as the climate changes, according to just-published research by scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of New Mexico, and Northern Arizona University.

Overall, the study forecasted species distribution losses – that is, where species are able to live – of nearly half for all but one of the 5 reptile species they examined, including for the iconic chuckwalla. The threatened Sonoran (Morafka’s) desert tortoise, however, is projected to experience little to no habitat losses from climate change. (more…)

Climate Change Boosts Then Quickly Stunts Plants, Decade-long Study Shows

*Global warming may initially make the grass greener, but not for long*

Global warming may initially make the grass greener, but not for long, according to new research results.

The findings, published this week in the journal Nature Climate Change, show that plants may thrive in the early stages of a warming environment but then begin to deteriorate quickly.

“We were really surprised by the pattern, where the initial boost in growth just went away,” said scientist Zhuoting Wu of Northern Arizona University (NAU), a lead author of the study. “As ecosystems adjusted, the responses changed.” (more…)

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A Few Winners, But Many More Losers

Climate Change Boosts Then Quickly Stunts Plants, Decade-long Study Shows