Open AccessDoes size matter? An analysis of the niche width and vulnerability to climate change of fourteen species of the genus Crotalus from North America
Author(s) -
Jorge Luis Becerra-López,
Raciel CruzElizalde,
Aurelio RamírezBautista,
Itzel Magno-Benítez,
Claudia Ballesteros-Barrera,
Javier Alvarado-Díaz,
Robert W. Bryson,
Uriel HernándezSalinas,
César Díaz-Marín,
Christian BerriozabalIslas,
Karen Fraire-Galindo,
Juan Tello-Ruiz,
Alexander Czaja,
María Torres-Delgado
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
peerj
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.927
H-Index - 70
ISSN - 2167-8359
DOI - 10.7717/peerj.13154
Subject(s) - ecological niche , niche , abiotic component , ecology , habitat , climate change , environmental niche modelling , crotalus , biology , geography , biotic component , species distribution , venom
The niche comprises the set of abiotic and biotic environmental conditions in which a species can live. Consequently, those species that present broader niches are expected to be more tolerant to changes in climatic variations than those species that present reduced niches. In this study, we estimate the amplitude of the climatic niche of fourteen species of rattlesnakes of the genus Crotalus to evaluate whether those species that present broader niches are less susceptible to the loss of climatically suitable zones due to the projected climate change for the time period 2021–2040. Our results suggest that for the species under study, the breadth of the niche is not a factor that determines their vulnerability to climatic variations. However, 71.4% of the species will experience increasingly inadequate habitat conditions, mainly due to the increase in temperature and the contribution that this variable has in the creation of climatically suitable zones for most of these species.