Examining the influence of climate change on distribution shifts and the efficacy of protected areas for hummingbirds in British Columbia
department or school: Forestry, Faculty of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Kennedy, Tabitha
issued: 2023-08-15T18:18:29Z
issued: 2023
related degree: Master of Science - MSc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Climate change continues to alter ecological systems, fauna, and flora within Canada. Many species are predicted to undergo range shifts as they track changing environmental conditions. Such range shifts add complexity to protected area (PA) planning if coverage within PA networks is reduced. In my MSc thesis, I assessed potential future distributions for a climate-sensitive family, Trochilidae (Hummingbirds), and the effectiveness of protected areas in tracking their shifting distributions. Following a maximum entropy approach, I modelled current and future species distribution for four commonly occurring species across British Columbia (B.C.): Annaâs Hummingbird (Calypte anna), Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri), Calliope Hummingbird (Selasphorus calliope), and Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus). Models included climatic, ecological, and geographic variables and were built using citizen science observations (eBird program) from 1981 to 2020 to assess the impact of climate (direct) and climate-induced habitat change (indirect) on potential future distributions. I found that climate-related variables were the strongest predictors of distribution for all species. Under the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) +8.5 W/m² climate warming scenario, northward range expansions were projected for all four hummingbird species. Absolute protected area coverage was projected to increase for all species following range expansions (Annaâs: +6,378 km², Black-chinned: +20,952 km², Calliope: +23,829 km², Rufous: +31,619 km²), while relative protected area coverage was projected to increase for all species (Calliope: +1.6%, Black-chinned: +2%, Annaâs: +10.8%) except for Rufous Hummingbird (â 3.8%). Greater range overlap was also projected to occur as a result of range expansion within the province. My findings indicate that while some future range expansion is predicted to fall within the boundaries of protected areas, a higher degree of range expansion…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/85470
note: EXAMINING THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON DISTRIBUTION SHIFTS AND THE EFFICACY OF PROTECTED AREAS FOR HUMMINGBIRDS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA by Tabitha Kennedy B.Sc., Carleton University, 2020 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Forestry) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) August 2023 © Tabitha Kennedy, 2023 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the thesis entitled: Examining the influence of climate change on distribution shifts and the efficacy of protected areas for hummingbirds in British Columbia submitted by Tabitha Kennedy in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Forestry Examining Committee: Dr. Kathy Martin, Professor, Forest and Conservation Sciences, UBC Co-supervisor Dr. Scott Wilson. Adjunct Professor, Forest and Conservation Sciences, UBC Co-supervisor Dr. Sarah Gergel, Professor and Associate Dean, Forest and Conservation Sciences, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Jill Jankowski, Associate Professor, Zoology, UBC Additional Examiner iii Abstract Climate change continues to alter ecological systems, fauna, and flora within Canada. Many species are predicted to undergo range shifts as they track changing environmental conditions. Such range shifts add complexity to protected area (PA) planning if coverage within PA networks is reduced. In my MSc thesis, I assessed potential future distributions for a climate-sensitive family, Trochilidae (Hummingbirds), and the effectiveness of protected areas in tracking their shifting distributions. Following a maximum entropy approach, I modelled current and future species distribution for four commonly occurring species across British Columbia (B.C.): Annaâs Hummingbird (Calypte anna), Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri), Calliope Hummi…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2023-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0435219
language: eng
degree discipline: Forestry
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Martin, Kathy (Katherine), 1949-
contributor: Wilson, Scott D.
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/85470