Assessing the conservation risk of Sphaerodactylus notatus , the U.S. herpetofaunal species most vulnerable to sea level
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Assessing the conservation risk of Sphaerodactylus notatus, the U.S. herpetofaunal species most vulnerable to sea level rise Stephanie L. Clements1 Christopher A. Searcy1
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Emily A. Powell1
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Caitlin C. Mothes1
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Received: 1 April 2020 / Revised: 20 October 2020 / Accepted: 31 October 2020 Ó Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract While climate change and sea level rise threaten species across the globe, species in lowlying coastal regions, such as South Florida, are projected to face particularly severe threats. One such species is the Florida reef gecko (Sphaerodactylus notatus), the only gecko native to the eastern U.S., and a highly understudied species that persists in heavily fragmented habitats of only three coastal Florida counties. To assess the conservation status of this species, we conducted surveys throughout South Florida to determine potential extirpations from historic localities and to delimit S. notatus’ current distribution. We also estimated the level of threat S. notatus faces from sea level rise relative to other species by analyzing sea level risk of all herpetofauna in the U.S. We detected geckos in only 41% of sites with appropriate habitat, and in only 65% of historic localities. Geckos were only present within 1.2 km from the coast, and the minimum 2.2 m of sea level rise already expected based on current carbon emissions will place 85% of suitable S. notatus habitat under water. Our findings were used to update the conservation risk of S. notatus according to IUCN and Florida guidelines for listing threatened and endangered species, and suggest this species now fits the criteria to warrant listing. In comparison to all other U.S. herpetofaunal species, we found that S. notatus is the most at risk from sea level rise due its fidelity to low-lying coastal habitats. Keywords Climate change Florida Fragmentation Reptile Reef gecko Threatened species
Communicated by Karen E. Hodges. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-02002080-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. & Stephanie L. Clements [email protected] 1
Department of Biology, University of Miami, 1301 Memorial Drive, Coral Gables, FL 33146, USA
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Biodiversity and Conservation
Introduction Anthropogenic climate change is one of several major factors impacting biodiversity and threatening wildlife across the globe, contributing to the biodiversity crisis known as the sixth mass extinction (Ceballos et al. 2015). Climate change affects species through altered precipitation regimes, novel species distributions, spread of disease and invasive species, new temperature stressors, and sea level rise (Povilitis and Suckling 2010; IPCC 2014, 2019). Recent studies predict sea level rise of 0.4–1.6 m by 2100 (Bakker et al. 2017). While coping mechanisms such as range shifts may help decrease the negative impacts of climate change for some species, sea level rise remai
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