Of Mice and Meadows - Summary

Overview: Although climate warming is a major cause of recent faunal change, it is not the only driver. Complex interaction among climate and non-climate factors can produce great variation in faunal response. Thus population and community ecology need new approaches that link local processes to landscape-scale patterns in both space and time to better understand biodiversity dynamics in our rapidly changing world. Description: This project addresses the impact of a century of environmental change on small mammals in the Great Basin, one of the most threatened bioregions in North America. Results will be directly relevant to conservation and management regarding species sensitivity to changes in climate and land-use practices and the role of biotic interactions and resource requirements in mediating responses to environmental change. This work will highlight the value of natural history collections to ecology and conservation biology.