Does size matter? An analysis of the niche width and vulnerability to climate change of fourteen species of the genus Crotalus from North America

PeerJ. 2022 Apr 5:10:e13154. doi: 10.7717/peerj.13154. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Environmental factors; Niche modelling; Snakes; Viperidae.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Climate Change*
  • Crotalus*
  • Ecosystem
  • North America
  • Temperature

Grants and funding

This study was supported by Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO) projects R045 and JM001, and Fondo Mixto-Comisión Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (Fomix-CONACyT) 191908 Biodiversidad del Estado de Hidalgo-3a. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.