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Effects of climate change on the distribution of indigenous species in oceanic islands (Azores)

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Abstract

Oceanic islands host a high proportion of the world’s endemic species. Many such species are at risk of extinction owing to habitat degradation and loss, biological invasions and other threats, but little is known about the effects of climate change on island native biodiversity. The Azorean archipelago provides a unique opportunity to study species-climate-change relationships. We used ensemble forecasting to evaluate the current and future distribution of well-studied endemic and native bryophytes (19 species), endemic vascular plants (59 species) and endemic arthropods (128 species), for two of the largest Azorean Islands, Terceira and São Miguel. Using a Regional Climate Model (CIELO), and assuming the extreme scenario RCP8.5, we examined changes in the potential distributions of the species and possible loss of climate space for them. Models projected that 23 species (11 %) could lose all adequate climate on either one or both islands. Five additional species were projected to lose ≥90 % of climate space. In total, 90 % of the species were projected to lose climate space: 79 % of bryophytes, 93 % of vascular plants and 91 % of arthropods. We also found for vascular plants and arthropods a tendency for upward shift in altitude in their suitable climate space, while for bryophytes the shift was towards the coastal areas. Our results have profound implications for future conservation priorities on islands, such as for the redrawing of conservation borders of current protected areas.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank to all students and researchers that contributed to the inventory of bryophytes, vascular plants and arthropods in the last decade within long-term research projects of Azorean Biodiversity Group. The authors would also like to thank the valuable suggestions from the reviewers and Dr. Simon Donner, contributing to the improvement of this manuscript.

Maria Teresa Ferreira was funded by the Azorean Regional Fund for Science and Technology and the Pro-Emprego for funding her grant within the project “Implications of climate change for Azorean Biodiversity - IMPACTBIO” [M2.1.2/I/005/2011].

Data on species distributions was gathered based on the EU projects INTERREGIII B “ATLÂNTICO” (2004-2006), BIONATURA (2006-2008), ATLANTISMAR - “Mapping coastal and marine biodiversity of the Azores” (Ref: M2.1.2/I/027/2011), and “MOVECLIM - Montane vegetation as listening posts for climate change” (Ref: M2.1.2/F/04/2011/NET).

The climatic modelling work of EBA was developed in the framework of the project “EstraMAR” (MAC/3/C177) supported by the European Union through the MAC Transnational Program of Cooperation – Madeira-Azores-Canaries.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CE3C – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes/Azorean Biodiversity Group and Universidade dos Açores - Departamento de Ciências Agrárias, 9700-042, Angra do Heroísmo, Açores, Portugal

    Maria Teresa Ferreira, Pedro Cardoso, Paulo A.V. Borges, Rosalina Gabriel & Rui Bento Elias

  2. Azorean Biodiversity Group (CITA-A) and Portuguese Platform for Enhancing Ecological Research & Sustainability (PEERS), Angra do Heroísmo, Açores, Portugal

    Maria Teresa Ferreira, Pedro Cardoso, Paulo A.V. Borges, Rosalina Gabriel & Rui Bento Elias

  3. Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Pedro Cardoso

  4. Center of Climate, Departamento de Ciências Agrárias, Meteorology and Global Change of the University of the Azores (CCMMG- CITA-A), Universidade dos Açores, 9700-042, Angra do Heroísmo, Portugal

    Eduardo Brito de Azevedo & Francisco Reis

  5. Department of Biogeography and Global Change, National Museum of Natural Sciences, CSIC, Calle José Gutiérrez Abascal, 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain

    Miguel B. Araújo

  6. InBIO/CIBIO, University of Évora, Largo dos Colegiais, 7000, Évora, Portugal

    Miguel B. Araújo

  7. Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Miguel B. Araújo

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  1. Maria Teresa Ferreira
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  2. Pedro Cardoso
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  3. Paulo A.V. Borges
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  4. Rosalina Gabriel
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  5. Eduardo Brito de Azevedo
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  6. Francisco Reis
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  7. Miguel B. Araújo
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  8. Rui Bento Elias
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Correspondence to Maria Teresa Ferreira.

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Ferreira, M.T., Cardoso, P., Borges, P.A. et al. Effects of climate change on the distribution of indigenous species in oceanic islands (Azores). Climatic Change 138, 603–615 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-016-1754-6

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