Drought helps predict how climate change might affect an endangered species
A new study documenting the negative effects of California’s drought on an endangered lizard in the San Joaquin Desert provides a glimpse into the potential effects of future droughts expected in California as a result of climate change. The findings, published May 2 in the online journal PLoS One, may also provide guidance on how to buffer these negative effects to avoid species extinctions.
Coauthor Barry Sinervo, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz, said the endangered blunt-nosed leopard lizard could face major losses of suitable habitat due to climate change.
