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Latebreaking Poster

Session: Biodiversity (Latebreaking)

LB 4-35 - Extreme drought renders artificial water catchments a ‘climate refugia’ for vertebrate communities in the Mojave Desert, California, USA

Thursday, August 10, 2023
5:00 PM – 6:30 PM PDT
Location: ESA Exhibit Hall
Rapid climate change has amplified drought conditions in deserts, where many species already subsist at their physiological limits. Resource managers in the southwestern United States have found that artificial water catchments provide additional free water benefits to wildlife. However, whether artificial water catchments maintain wildlife occupancy across deserts during periods of drought remains unknown. Here, we test the influence of artificial water catchments on species occupancy for large mammals, bats, birds, and reptiles across the Mojave desert ecoregion in California, USA. By comparing species occupancy estimates between 2016 and 2023, we capture wildlife response to water during the hottest and driest drought period in California’s history. To monitor vertebrate communities, we gathered data using camera traps, acoustic and ultrasonic recorders, and drift fences with short-focus cameras at 68 locations across the Mojave desert ecoregion. We constructed single-species single-season occupancy models (n = 44 species) for 2016 and 2023 to compare the influence of artificial water catchments, vegetation structure, land-use, precipitation, and temperature before and during the recent drought. We demonstrate that several species exhibit higher occupancy at artificial water catchments (AWCs) after the drought, including desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis), coyotes (Canis latrans), and mourning dove (Zenaida macroura), while others do not. On average, artificial water catchments became more important predictors post-drought, surpassing temperature as a top predictor of occupancy for medium to large mammals. We discuss how extreme climatic warming and drying can cause species to use vegetation, topography, as well as artificial water catchments for climate refugia. This research highlights which desert species may benefit from management interventions under global climate change.