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Predicted range shifts in North American boreal forest birds and the effect of climate change on genetic diversity in blackpoll warblers (Setophaga striata)

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Abstract

As North American species’ ranges shift northward in response to climate change, populations isolated in high-elevation habitat “islands” at the southern edge of distributions are predicted to decrease in size or be extirpated. Levels of genetic structure and gene flow and the number of private alleles held within these peripheral populations can be used as a measure of the potential loss of genetic diversity due to climate change. We use GIS-based climate niche models to project geographic distributions of 15 boreal forest bird species for the year 2080 under two carbon emissions scenarios to predict the extent to which ranges will shift, leading to the extirpation of isolated populations at the southern periphery of the boreal forest. Breeding distributions of nearly all boreal bird species are predicted to expand as they shift northward, but will dramatically decrease or be completely lost from mountain populations in New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire by 2080. To examine the effect of these shifts on gene pools of migratory bird species we genotyped 178 blackpoll warblers (Setophaga striata) at nine microsatellite loci, sampling four imperiled high-elevation populations and four northern populations. In S. striata 10.4 % of microsatellite alleles were confined to populations expected to be lost due to climate change. However, these accounted for a nonsignificant percent of the genetic structure, and loss of these alleles would not significantly erode species heterozygosity or allelic richness. Our results indicate that isolated southern populations of S. striata, and possibly other migratory species with high gene flow, do not represent genetically isolated, independently evolving units. Efforts to mitigate the effect of climate change on boreal forest birds should focus on species in which peripheral populations harbor significant genetic diversity.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the New York State Museum and by research grants to JR from the American Museum of Natural History Frank Chapman Fund, University at Albany Graduate Student Organization, and State University of New York Benevolent Association. Occurrence data provided to ORNIS and GBIF portals by the following institutions: University of Alaska Museum, Berkley Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, Cornell University, University of Minnesota Bell Museum of Natural History, University of Washington Burke Museum, University of Alberta Museum, Field Museum, Louisiana State University Museum, Michigan State University Museum, UCLA Dickey Collection, Canadian Museum of Nature, Yale University Peabody Museum, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, University of Puget Sound Slate Museum of Natural History and eBird. We thank the following individuals and institutions for contributing tissue samples: K. McFarland and Vermont Center for Ecostudies; Y. Aubry and S. Paladin; W.V. DeLuca; H. Askanas; E. Adams; UCLA Conservation Genetics Resources Center; Royal Ontario Museum; Bell Museum of Natural History. We thank MK Gonder for use of her ABI 3130 Genetic Analyzer and assistance with Eigensoft, and R. Kays for assistance with ArcGIS. J. Bopp, B. Whittam, A. Bartels, and D. Simpson assisted with field work. We thank R. Kays, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University at Albany, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY, 12222, USA

    Joel Ralston

  2. New York State Museum, 3140 Cultural Education Center, Albany, NY, 12230, USA

    Joel Ralston & Jeremy J. Kirchman

  3. Utica College, 1600 Burrstone Road, Utica, NY, 13502, USA

    Joel Ralston

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Ralston, J., Kirchman, J.J. Predicted range shifts in North American boreal forest birds and the effect of climate change on genetic diversity in blackpoll warblers (Setophaga striata) . Conserv Genet 14, 543–555 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-012-0418-y

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