Warming and Wildlife » Snow-Dependent Wildlife At Risk

At Risk: Snow-Dependent Wildlife

Snow Melt

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It is a tragic irony that the first places to suffer from global warming will be the coldest regions of the planet. Toward the poles and at higher elevations, global warming brings earlier springs, warmer summers, reduced snowpack that melts sooner, and thinner ice.

Snow-adapted species have evolved unique ways to survive harsh conditions, and they face an ominous future as their world rapidly melts around them.

For many of these cold climate species, snow serves as a barrier to other competitors or predators not equipped for life in a winter wonderland. Reduction of snowpack could mean invasions of a whole array of unwelcome antagonists.

The Lynx and the Hare

Canada lynx specialize in snow hunting. They have especially wide furry feet that support them on deep snow, an adaptation that bobcats and other competitors don't have.

The lynx's main prey, snowshoe hare, develops long white winter coats that camouflage them against snow. With earlier snow melts, the hare's white winter coats stand out against a brown background, leaving them at a big disadvantage. A crash in snowshoe hare prey would likely result in a lynx population crash.

Snow as Insulation

Karner blue butterfly Some species actually rely upon snow cover for winter insulation:

The endangered Karner blue butterfly lays its eggs on exposed sand in the summer, and the eggs survive winter sheltered under a protective blanket of snow.
Snow forms an insulating winter shield around rockpiles inhabited by the American pika in its high mountain habitats.
The American wolverine requires deep snow for its late winter natal dens.

Changing Snowmelt

Spring runs of Pacific Chinook salmon are timed to coincide with cold, snowmelt waters flowing from the mountains to the sea.

Global warming will result in more precipitation falling as rain instead of snow. This will alter the timing and temperature of stream flows and the magnitude of floods.

Earlier snowmelts can affect other coldwater fish species, including brook and rainbow trout.