![]() ![]() Salamanders, for example, are vulnerable because they can’t handle desiccation-a total absence of moisture from their skin. “We might expect all will be affected to some degree,” Sullivan says, but those effects will be on a spectrum, depending on a species’ exposure to heat, their physiology, and their vulnerability. “The alternative is that there are no individuals that can survive.” “The alternative is pretty bleak,” Stillman says. The hope is that every species has enough extreme-heat-tolerant individuals that they can pass on their genes to offspring. Animals now have only a few decades to adapt to changes that historically occurred over millions of years. The problem is if there isn’t enough genetic variation to keep up with the rapid pace of climate change, which includes more frequent and widespread heat waves. That’s just part of the evolutionary process, says Stillman: the sometimes-overlooked inverse of the survival and reproduction of animals hardy enough to withstand those stressors. ( Read about thousands of flying foxes that died in Australia’s extreme heat.) Who survives?Įnvironmental stressors kill animals all the time. These creatures are used to being exposed to the air when the tide is low, but they aren’t evolved to cope with such extreme air temperatures as the West has been seeing, Sullivan says. Other aquatic species that live in shallow waters have also been hit hard, according to researchers from the University of British Columbia, who estimate that hundreds of millions of mussels likely died in the heat waves, essentially steaming in their shells, as well as sea stars, barnacles, hermit crabs, and other shoreline-dwelling organisms. In an effort to save as many as possible, the department has transported more than 16 million juveniles from four hatcheries in the Central Valley to seaside net pens in San Pablo Bay and San Francisco Bay. The fish cannot survive beyond their egg stage in waters heated by extended temperatures that exceed 100 degrees. In California’s Sacramento River, it’s a “crisis situation” for young, endangered Chinook salmon in particular, says Jordan Traverso, spokesperson at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “It’s like if you had to run a marathon while wearing a plastic bag over your head, while it’s 10 degrees warmer outside,” Stillman says. Salmon face both increased water temperature and decreased oxygen, he says, because warmer water contains less of it. They’re already stressed by the network of dams they need to get over or around, Sullivan says.īut during a heat wave, they’re hit with “a double whammy,” says Jonathon Stillman, adjunct biology professor at University of California, Berkeley, who researches how environmental changes affect marine life. Salmon, for example, are migratory fish, moving from the ocean up rivers to spawn. Other animals are likely to take new risks by venturing places they normally wouldn’t, in search of shade or water.Īs extreme heat events become more frequent and median temperatures rise, experts are concerned about animals’ ability to survive and adapt.īy Jonathon Stillman Adjunct biology professor at University of California, Berkeley ![]() In some cases, human development prevents animals from being able to flee to cooler areas. ![]() One estimate puts the death toll at more than a billion. Marine life, including mussels and sea stars, have died en masse from exposure to unusually hot air. The hawk nosedives are one dramatic example of the many ways wild animals have been affected by extreme heat in the West. “But these guys were just downy babies,” she says, “and there was nothing to do but bail out.” If they’d had feathers, they’d have been able to regulate their body temperatures. If the young birds had been able to fly, they could have sought reprieve in a cooler spot. The historic heat wave coincided with nesting season, says Lynn Tompkins, director of Blue Mountain Wildlife. More still were brought to Portland Audubon and other rehabilitation facilities throughout the Pacific Northwest. Nearly 50 baby Cooper’s and Swainson’s hawks were rescued from the ground beneath towering pines in Washington and Oregon and brought to Blue Mountain Wildlife, a rehabilitation organization in Pendleton, Oregon, which specializes in treating birds of prey. Unable to fly, the young raptors dealt with the heat in the only way they could: One by one, they threw themselves out. As the Pacific Northwest baked in 115 degree heat last month, fuzzy baby hawks sat sweltering in their nests, 50 feet off the ground. ![]()
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