European Ground Squirrels at the Edge: Current Distribution Status and Anticipated Impact of Climate on Europe’s Southernmost Population

Dimitra-Lida Rammou, Christos Astaras, Despina Migli, George Boutsis, Antonia Galanaki, Theodoros Kominos and Dionisios Youlatos
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Dimitra-Lida Rammou: School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Christos Astaras: Forest Research Institute, ELGO-DIMITRA, GR-57006 Vasilika, Greece
Despina Migli: School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
George Boutsis: School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Antonia Galanaki: School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Theodoros Kominos: School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Dionisios Youlatos: School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 2, 1-18

Abstract: The European ground squirrel ( Spermophilus citellus ) is an endangered semifossorial small mammal of grassland/agricultural ecosystems. In the last few decades, the species’ population has declined throughout its range in Europe. The Greek populations represent the southernmost limit of the species’ range and are notably small, scattered, and located mainly in human-modified areas. The goal of the present research is to understand the environmental and anthropogenic variables associated with its distribution in the Mediterranean habitats, assess possible drivers of observed local extinctions, and propose conservation and land-use management actions in light of near-future climate change scenarios. We used presence records since 2000 across all known populations (107 colonies) and maximum entropy conditional probability models (MaxEnt) to calculate both the habitat suitability (bioclimatic variables) and habitat availability (anthropogenic/land-use variables) within the European ground squirrel’s historical range in northern Greece. We report a projected 39% to 94.3% decrease in habitat suitability by 2040–2060 due to climate change. Based on our findings, we provide guidance by proposing nascent conservation actions to protect the few existing colonies in Greece via improved land management practices and identify in situ climate refugia that could be prioritized as sites for future reintroductions.

Keywords: Spermophilus citellus; maximum entropy modeling; species distribution modeling; climate change refugia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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