2026-10-11T21:30:45Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/33951115 2026-09-21T08:00:28Z category_33614 portal_1059 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Climate change refugia for terrestrial taxa in New Mexico Megan M. Friggens (19657345) Karen E. Cooper Chaudhry (25081318) Environmental sciences climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere Reptiles environment Birds Ecology, Ecosystems, & Environment Climate change biota Wildlife (or Fauna) Mammals refugia Amphibians Conservation Opportunity Areas HUC12 Hydrology, watersheds, sedimentation We considered a range of climate, topographic and landscape diversity metrics for their potential to identify areas of potential stability or refugia under climate change. Climate data used to identify macrorefugia, or areas that are expected to undergo less change in temperature, precipitation or derived variables were derived by comparing midcentury (2040-2060) projections to observed (1985-2015) conditions. Topographic variables were used to identify areas that likely to hold more mesic or buffered sites (microrefugia). Landscape heterogeneity considered diversity indices of topographic variables and vegetation classes. This data publication specifically includes the following data provided as both a shapefile and geopackage: 1) mean values of Composite Index (CI) for Conservation Opportunity Areas (COA) in New Mexico; 2) CI scores, representing the standardized total of individual weighted refugia indicators; and 3) the final set of climate and topographic indicators used to identify terrestrial macro- and microrefugia in HUC12 in New Mexico.<br>The United States is experiencing significant changes in temperature and hydrological regimes under global warming. Additional climate changes are likely to lead to widespread shifts in animal and plant distributions as suitable habitat shifts in response to changing conditions. Resource managers need knowledge and tools to combat potential negative consequences of climate change and conserve species. Estimations of wildfire-climate interactions and climate change refugia are important for identifying potentially important management and conservation actions. Identifying macro- and micro-refugia helps identify where, as well as how long species may be able to persist in an area. The purpose of this project is to develop products that communicate various aspects of climate change impacts for wildlife and native plants. A major facet of this project will identifies climate change refugia for terrestrial species of greatest conservation need in New Mexico. A second phase of this project provides data for aquatic and riparian species (Smith et al. 2026).<br>Code and associated updates can be found at https://github.com/mfriggens/CCRefugia (Friggens 2025). Additional information about this work can be found in Friggens and Cooper Chaudry (2025) as well as Friggens et al. (in revision). 2026-01-02T00:00:00Z Dataset Dataset 10.2737/RDS-2026-0051 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Climate_change_refugia_for_terrestrial_taxa_in_New_Mexico/33951115 CC0