Yosemite’s Alpine Chipmunks Take Genetic Hit from Climate Change
ScienceDaily (Feb. 19, 2012) — Global warming has forced alpine chipmunks in Yosemite to higher ground, prompting a startling decline in the species’ genetic diversity, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.
Those silly chipmunks. Someone forgot to tell them that temperatures in Yosemite have dropped five degrees since the 1920s.
F&%$#n Alvin, he’s gone all green on us.
It’s those damn reverse thermometers again… Amazing.
Steven, at which altitude is the Yosemite headquarters located?
The researchers found genetic changes in alpine chipmunks.
“In comparison, there were no significant changes in genetic diversity detected among the lodgepole chipmunks, a species found at elevations from 4,900 to 9,800 feet.”
Wow! So you are suggesting that the lapse rate is altered in Yosemite? CO2 is indeed powerful.
I am only saying that the “genetic hit” concerned alpine chipmunks, which live higher than lodgepole chipmunks.
Lower altitude – lodgepole chipmunks – no genetic hit.
Higher altitude – alpine chipmunks – genetic hit.
Where is your temperature curve for the altitudes where alpine chipmunks live?
The study is based on the idea that Yosemite has warmed substantially. Given that the only long-term temperature record in the region shows substantial cooling, the premise of the study is fatally flawed. You can find elevations of 4900 feet a few hundred feet away from the visitor center.
Thanks for the clarification, Steven.
I quote your stories sometimes in my country’s climate forums and one just has to be careful with the details to avoid alarmist counterpoints.
Steven, the Yosemite site that that chart comes from, do you happen to know why in the average, low, and high mean temperature charts it shows a sudden spike in average yearly temps. then it goes back down in the 50′s again in 2011? The spike doesn’t make any statistical sense and seems like they just stuck it in there.
The site is : http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?ca9855
Take a look at it and let me know what you think.
Thanks. Jay.
“The Grinnell Resurvey Project, led by Moritz and museum colleagues, found that many small mammals in Yosemite moved or retracted their ranges to higher, cooler elevations over the past century, a period when the average temperature in the park increased by 3 degrees Celsius, or about 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit”
I’m making enquiries as to where this data comes from. Should be interesting.
I’m sure it has nothing to do with human encroachment, or bias.
Steve,
I’ve received a reply that you might be interested in pulling to pieces. Email me at the address I use in my posts if you’re interested.
Where can I find this data at the USHCN website or at cdiac.ornl.gov? I cannot find a user-friendly page.
Minimum and avg temps?
Any other independent sources, e.g. the source used by the scientists in question.
I’m sure the researchers didn’t control for all confounding variables. Maybe banning DDT increased the number of natural predators, or the park put out signs to stop feeding the animals.
From personal experience I can attest it is profoundly easy to contaminate or misinterpret the results of any study. These guys might as well have studied the long term redistribution of hair on the asses of Yosemite’s gnat population. It would be just as useful.
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California – Berkeley.
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does that ring a bell?