Super Stellar Friday: Carnivores and Climate Change

August 2020
Climate change in New Hampshire will change weather patterns, shift species ranges, and cause other disruptions to local ecosystems--wildlife populations may have to adjust to new conditions or face extirpation. How will climate change impact some of these same species now inhabiting coastal areas along the Gulf of Mexico where land loss compounds the effects? ​
As part of our celebration of women in STEM, Mirka Zapletal will share her research on coastal carnivore ecology in Louisiana, describing present and future species distributions for carnivores like coyotes, raccoons, and otters, and rodent species which exhibit many of the same ecological traits. Models of Louisiana’s coast suggest dramatically different landscapes in the future. In Louisiana’s dynamic coastal zone where restoration is big business, management decisions to combat those changes incorporate economic, cultural, and endangered species concerns. Those same decisions can have profound impacts on the predator communities (or lack thereof) of restored areas.​