No snow, no hares: Climate change pushes emblematic species north

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://news.wisc.edu/no-snow-no-hares-climate-change-pushes-emblematic-species-north/

[font face=Serif][font size=5]No snow, no hares: Climate change pushes emblematic species north[/font]

March 30, 2016

[font size=3]If there is an animal emblematic of the northern winter, it is the snowshoe hare.

A forest dweller, the snowshoe hare is named for its big feet, which allow it to skitter over deep snow to escape lynx, coyotes and other predators. It changes color with the seasons, assuming a snow-white fur coat for winter camouflage.

But a changing climate and reduced snow cover across the north is squeezing the animal out of its historic range, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. Writing in the current (March 30, 2016) Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the Wisconsin researchers report that the range of the hare in Wisconsin is creeping north by about five and a half miles per decade, closely tracking the diminishing snow cover the animal requires to be successful.


[font size=1]The snowshoe hare is an emblematic species of the north country, adapted to and dependent on a snowy climate. A recent study by UW–Madison researchers shows the southern boundary of the snowshoe hare’s range shifting north as climate warms.
Photo: L. Scott Mills[/font]

“The snowshoe hare is perfectly modeled for life on snow,” explains Jonathan Pauli, a UW–Madison professor of forest and wildlife ecology and one of the co-authors of the new study. “They’re adapted to glide on top of the snow and to blend in with the historical colors of the landscape.”

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[Bill USA]

1. changes are coming faster than anybody predicted. And that will be even more so in the future.