Life Sciences Commons^™

Rapidly Changing Range Limits In A Warming World: Critical Data Limitations And Knowledge Gaps For Advancing Understanding Of Mangrove Range Dynamics In The Southeastern Usa, Rémi Bardou, Michael J. Osland, Steven Scyphers, Christine Shepard, Karen E. Aerni, Jahson B. Alemu I, Robert Crimian, Richard H. Day, Nicholas M. Enwright, Christopher A. Gabler

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Climate change is altering species’ range limits and transforming ecosystems. For example, warming temperatures are leading to the range expansion of tropical, cold-sensitive species at the expense of their cold-tolerant counterparts. In some temperate and subtropical coastal wetlands, warming winters are enabling mangrove forest encroachment into salt marsh, which is a major regime shift that has significant ecological and societal ramifications. Here, we synthesized existing data and expert knowledge to assess the distribution of mangroves near rapidly changing range limits in the southeastern USA. We used expert elicitation to identify data limitations and highlight knowledge gaps for advancing understanding of …

Predicting The Impact Of Climate Change On The Distribution Of Rhipicephalus Sanguineus In The Americas, Marcos Sánchez Pérez, Teresa Patricia Feria-Arroyo, Crystian Sadiel Venegas Barrera, Carolina Sosa-Gutiérrez, Javier Torres, Katherine A. Brown, Guadalupe Gordillo Pérez

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Climate change may influence the incidence of infectious diseases including those transmitted by ticks. Rhipicephalus sanguineus complex has a worldwide distribution and transmits Rickettsial infections that could cause high mortality rates if untreated. We assessed the potential effects of climate change on the distribution of R. sanguineus in the Americas in 2050 and 2070 using the general circulation model CanESM5 and two shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs), SSP2-4.5 (moderate emissions) and SSP2-8.5 (high emissions). A total of 355 occurrence points of R. sanguineus and eight uncorrelated bioclimatic variables were entered into a maximum entropy algorithm (MaxEnt) to produce 50 replicates per …

Increased Floodplain Inundation In The Amazon Since 1980, Ayan Fleischmann, Fabrice Papa, Stephen K. Hamilton, Alice Fassoni-Andrade, Sly Wongchuig, Jhan Carlo Espinoza, Rodrigo Paiva, John Melack, Etienne Fluet-Chouinard, Rafael M. Almeida

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Extensive floodplains throughout the Amazon basin support important ecosystem services and influence global water and carbon cycles. A recent change in the hydroclimatic regime of the region, with increased rainfall in the northern portions of the basin, has produced record-breaking high water levels on the Amazon River mainstem. Yet, the implications for the magnitude and duration of floodplain inundation across the basin remain unknown. Here we leverage state-of-the-art hydrological models, supported by in situ and remote sensing observations, to show that the maximum annual inundation extent along the central Amazon increased by 26% since 1980. We further reveal increased flood …

Modeling The Impact Of Climate Change On Cervid Chronic Wasting Disease In Semi-Arid South Texas, Md Rafiul Islam, Ummugul Bulut, Teresa Patricia Feria-Arroyo, Michael G. Tyshenko, Tamer Oraby

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a spongiform encephalopathy disease caused by the transmission of infectious prion agents. CWD is a fatal disease that affects wild and farmed cervids in North America with few cases reported overseas. Social interaction of cervids, feeding practices by wildlife keepers and climate effects on the environmental carrying capacity all can affect CWD transmission in deer. Wildlife deer game hunting is economically important to the semi-arid South Texas region and is affected by climate change. In this paper, we model and investigate the effect of climate change on the spread of CWD using typical climate scenarios. …

The Potential Impact Of Climate Change On The Distributions Of Eleutherodactylus Cystignathoides And E. Planirostris (Anura: Eleutherodactylidae), Rebecca T. Chastain

Theses and Dissertations

Climate change is inducing changes in the distributions of many species, causing range shifts and habitat loss as well as facilitating invasions. It is a broad contributor to global amphibian decline, already causing mass extinctions and extirpations of amphibian populations, a phenomenon which is expected to continue. The understudied direct-developing frog Eleutherodactylus cystignathoides is a notable outlier, having rapidly expanded its distribution in recent years. This is of particular interest given that other eleutherodactylids, such as E. coqui and E. planirostris, have already shown propensity for rapid dispersal and invasion. Originally found in the southernmost tip of …

Biological Flora Of The Tropical And Subtropical Intertidal Zone: Literature Review For Rhizophora Mangle L., Hudson R. Deyoe, Robert I. Lonard, Frank W. Judd, Richard Stalter, Ilka Feller

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Rhizophora mangle L. is a tropical and subtropical mangrove species that occurs as a dominant tree species in the intertidal zone of low-energy shorelines. Rhizophora mangle plays an important role in coastal zones as habitat for a wide range of organisms of intertidal food webs, as a natural barrier to coastal erosion, and as carbon sequestration. A review of mangrove literature has been performed, but a review specifically on red mangroves has not. The approach was to cover a broad range of topics with a focus on topics that have seen significant work since the 1970s. This review includes a …

Potential Effects Of Climate Change On The Geographic Distribution Of The Endangered Plant Species Manihot Walkerae, Gisel Garza, Armida Rivera, Crystian Sadel Venegas Barrera, Jose Guadalupe Martinez-Avalos, Jon Dale, Teresa Patricia Feria-Arroyo

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Walker’s Manihot, Manihot walkerae, is an endangered plant that is endemic to the Tamaulipan thornscrub ecoregion of extreme southern Texas and northeastern Mexico. M. walkerae populations are highly fragmented and are found on both protected public lands and private property. Habitat loss and competition by invasive species are the most detrimental threats for M. walkerae; however, the effect of climate change on M. walkerae’s geographic distribution remains unexplored and could result in further range restrictions. Our objectives are to evaluate the potential effects of climate change on the distribution of M. walkerae and assess the usefulness of natural protected areas …

Climate And Plant Controls On Soil Organic Matter In Coastal Wetlands, Michael J. Osland, Christopher A. Gabler, James B. Grace, Richard H. Day, Meagan L. Mccoy, Jennie L. Mcleod, Andrew S. From, Nicholas M. Enwright, Laura C. Feher, Camille L. Stagg

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Coastal wetlands are among the most productive and carbon‐rich ecosystems on Earth. Long‐term carbon storage in coastal wetlands occurs primarily belowground as soil organic matter (SOM). In addition to serving as a carbon sink, SOM influences wetland ecosystem structure, function, and stability. To anticipate and mitigate the effects of climate change, there is a need to advance understanding of environmental controls on wetland SOM. Here, we investigated the influence of four soil formation factors: climate, biota, parent materials, and topography. Along the northern Gulf of Mexico, we collected wetland plant and soil data across elevation and zonation gradients within 10 …

Linear And Nonlinear Effects Of Temperature And Precipitation On Ecosystem Properties In Tidal Saline Wetlands, Laura C. Feher, Michael J. Osland, Kereen T. Griffith, James B. Grace, Rebecca J. Howard, Camille L. Stagg, Nicholas M. Enwright, Ken W. Krauss, Christopher A. Gabler, Richard H. Day, Kerrylee Rogers

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Climate greatly influences the structure and functioning of tidal saline wetland ecosystems. However, there is a need to better quantify the effects of climatic drivers on ecosystem properties, particularly near climate-sensitive ecological transition zones. Here, we used climate- and literature-derived ecological data from tidal saline wetlands to test hypotheses regarding the influence of climatic drivers (i.e., temperature and precipitation regimes) on the following six ecosystem properties: canopy height, biomass, productivity, decomposition, soil carbon density, and soil carbon accumulation. Our analyses quantify and elucidate linear and nonlinear effects of climatic drivers. We quantified positive linear relationships between temperature and above-ground productivity …

Efectos Del Cambio Climático En La Interacción Planta-Hormiga: Una Mini Revisión Sobre La Tolerancia Térmica, Florencio Luna Castellanos, Mariana Cuautle, Teresa Patricia Feria-Arroyo, Citlalli Castillo Guevara

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Sin duda alguna el clima está cambiando debido al aumento de la concentración de gases de efecto invernadero en la atmósfera provocado por la acción humana. Dichos cambios van a tener un efecto importante en algunas actividades humanas tales como la agricultura y también pueden afectar enormemente la distribución geográfica de los organismos vivos y por tanto sus interacciones. Las hormigas y las plantas tienen una larga historia evolutiva de interacción. La actividad de las hormigas y su relación con las plantas en los últimos años ha tenido un número creciente de estudios que están poniendo de relieve su papel …

Linear And Nonlinear Effects Of Temperature And Precipitation On Ecosystem Properties In Tidal Saline Wetlands, Laura C. Feher, Michael J. Osland, Kereen T. Griffith, James B. Grace, Rebecca J. Howard, Camille L. Stagg, Nicholas M. Enwright, Ken W. Krauss, Christopher A. Gabler, Richard H. Day, Kerrylee Rogers

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Climate greatly influences the structure and functioning of tidal saline wetland ecosystems. However, there is a need to better quantify the effects of climatic drivers on ecosystem properties, particularly near climate‐sensitive ecological transition zones. Here, we used climate‐ and literature‐derived ecological data from tidal saline wetlands to test hypotheses regarding the influence of climatic drivers (i.e., temperature and precipitation regimes) on the following six ecosystem properties: canopy height, biomass, productivity, decomposition, soil carbon density, and soil carbon accumulation. Our analyses quantify and elucidate linear and nonlinear effects of climatic drivers. We quantified positive linear relationships between temperature and above‐ground productivity …

Translating Ecology, Physiology, Biochemistry And Population Genetics Research To Meet The Challenge Of Tick And Tick-Borne Diseases In North America, Maria Dolores Esteve-Gassent, Ivan Castro-Arellano, Teresa Patricia Feria-Arroyo, Ramiro Patino, Andrew Y. Li, Raul F. Medina, Adalberto A. Pérez De León, Roger Iván Rodríguez-Vivas

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Emerging and re-emerging tick-borne diseases threaten public health and the wellbeing of domestic animals and wildlife globally. The adoption of an evolutionary ecology framework aimed to diminish the impact of tick-borne diseases needs to be part of strategies to protect human and animal populations. We present a review of current knowledge on the adaptation of ticks to their environment, and the impact that global change could have on their geographic distribution in North America. Environmental pressures will affect tick population genetics by selecting genotypes able to withstand new and changing environments and by altering the connectivity and isolation of several …

Beyond Just Sea-Level Rise: Considering Macroclimatic Drivers Within Coastal Wetland Vulnerability Assessments To Climate Change, Michael J. Osland, Nicholas M. Enwright, Richard H. Day, Christopher A. Gabler, Camille L. Stagg, James B. Grace

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Due to their position at the land-sea interface, coastal wetlands are vulnerable to many aspects of climate change. However, climate change vulnerability assessments for coastal wetlands generally focus solely on sea-level rise without considering the effects of other facets of climate change. Across the globe and in all ecosystems, macroclimatic drivers (e.g., temperature and rainfall regimes) greatly influence ecosystem structure and function. Macroclimatic drivers have been the focus of climate change-related threat evaluations for terrestrial ecosystems, but largely ignored for coastal wetlands. In some coastal wetlands, changing macroclimatic conditions are expected to result in foundation plant species replacement, which would …

Effects Of Climate Change On The Potential Distribution Of 12 Endemic Lizards Of The Genus Plestiodon Of Mexico, Mayra Oyervides

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Anthropogenic global climate change is a large scale threat to biodiversity. Species distribution models (SDMs) were created to assess the possible effects of climate change on the distribution of 12 Plestiodon lizards of Mexico. Species presence data was obtained from online databases, literature, and field data. Occurrences were correlated with 19 climatic variables from www.worldclim.org to model species' current suitable habitat. These models were then projected to future (2050) conditions for which bioclimatic information was downloaded from the CCAFS website. Forecasts were made using 4 General Circulatory Models, 2 IPCC scenarios, and the software MaxEnt. Models were replicated 10 times …

Implications Of Climate Change On The Distribution Of The Tick Vector Ixodes Scapularis And Risk For Lyme Disease In The Texas-Mexico Transboundary Region, Teresa Patricia Feria-Arroyo, Ivan Castro-Arellano, Guadalupe Gordillo Pérez, Ana L. Cavazos, Margarita Vargas-Sandoval, Abha Grover, Javier Torres, Raul F. Medina, Adalberto A. Pérez De León, Maria Dolores Esteve-Gassent

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background

Disease risk maps are important tools that help ascertain the likelihood of exposure to specific infectious agents. Understanding how climate change may affect the suitability of habitats for ticks will improve the accuracy of risk maps of tick-borne pathogen transmission in humans and domestic animal populations. Lyme disease (LD) is the most prevalent arthropod borne disease in the US and Europe. The bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi causes LD and it is transmitted to humans and other mammalian hosts through the bite of infected Ixodes ticks. LD risk maps in the transboundary region between the U.S. and Mexico are lacking. Moreover, …

Predicted Effects Of Climate Change On The Distribution Of The Invasive Grass Dichanthium Annulatum, Cynthia Isabel Garcia

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Kleberg bluestem (Dichanthium annulatum) is an invasive grass species native to Africa but now found in southern United States, Mexico, and other tropical and subtropical countries throughout the world. Using the modeling software MaxEnt, climatic variables from WorldClim, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenario A1B, and two General Circulatory Models: the Canadian model (Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis or CCCMA), and the Australian model (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation or CSIRO), several models were developed to determine the possible implications of climatic change on the suitable habitat for D. annulatum, in the year 2050. Models …