File:Leopard Lizard, San Joaquin Desert (26755284416).jpg

The Bureau of Land Management, the University of California at Santa Cruz, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and The Nature Conservancy announce the release of a new study documenting the negative effects of the 2012-2014 drought, the most severe multi-year drought in southwestern North America in the past 1200 years, on an endangered lizard in the San Joaquin Desert of California. The results provide a unique glimpse into the potential effects of future droughts expected in California as a result of climate change, and provide guidance on how to buffer these negative effects to avoid species extinction.

“When the drought hit, we were positioned to team up with our partners and take advantage of this unique opportunity to assess the potential effects of climate change on a vulnerable species,” said Mike Westphal, BLM Ecologist and lead author of the study. “Thanks to the geographic nature of the study, we were also able to identify key climate refugia for the species.”

The study provides an excellent example of how collaborative research among land management agencies, wildlife agencies, non-governmental organizations, and universities can produce important insights into the potential effects of climate change. The results of the study are anticipated to guide ongoing conservation efforts in the San Joaquin Desert region of California. More importantly, the success of the study should provide encouragement to other researchers to take full advantage of extreme weather events such as historic droughts to learn about the future potential effects of climate change.