Reducing Wallacean shortfalls for the coralsnakes of the Micrurus lemniscatus species complex: Present and future distributions under a changing climate

PLoS One. 2018 Nov 14;13(11):e0205164. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0205164. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

South American coralsnakes are characterized by inconspicuous and poorly known species, which are potentially very sensitive to climate change. Here, we assess the impact of future climate change on the distributions of the Micrurus lemniscatus species complex after addressing the Wallacean shortfalls and refining the knowledge about their current geographic distributions. We also evaluate the efficiency of the current reserve network to protect the species in the present and future. We applied ecological niche model tools through a carefully examined set of occurrence records to generate potential present distributions and to project these distributions into future scenarios of climate change. Specific thresholds based on occurrence records along with expert opinions were used to delineate the geographic distribution of each species. A hierarchical ANOVA was applied to evaluate the uncertainties in species distributions across niche modeling methods and climate models and nested into the time factor (present and future). Multiple regression models were used to infer the relative importance of the climatic variables to determine the species' suitability. A gap analysis was performed to address the representativeness of species distributions into protected areas. Predicted geographic distributions were compatible with the known distributions and the expert opinions, except for M. l. carvalhoi. New areas for field research were identified. Variation in precipitation was the most important factor defining the habitat suitability for all species, except for M. diutius. All taxa (except M. l. lemniscatus) will shrink their distributions in the future; less than 50% of the present suitable areas are protected in reserve networks, and less than 40% of these areas will be held in reserves in the future. We found strong evidence that coralsnakes may be highly sensitive to the ongoing changes and must be protected.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Climate Change*
  • Coral Snakes / physiology*
  • Ecology*
  • Ecosystem

Grants and funding

We highlight that our work on ecological niche modelling, species distributions, and climate change has been funded by the ‘Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Goiás’ – FAPEG (n. 23180) and by the ‘Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico’- CNPq (n. 473811/2013-8). LCT research in macroecology has been continuously supported by CNPq productivity grants (306418/2013-4, 310824/2017-6). This paper was developed in the context of National Institutes for Science and Technology (INCT) in Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity Conservation, supported by MCTIC/CNpq (proc. 465610/2014-5) and FAPEG. We state that the founders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.