Christy McCain, Professor (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology & Museum of Natural History, CU Boulder)

Wednesday, August 9 at 7:00 pm
Location: Megaron

This weekly summer seminar at the Mountain Research Station is free and open to the public. 

Please arrive 15 minutes early so that you have time to park and make your way to the seminar.

You will be joining a fun mix of MRS scientists, students who are taking courses, and members of the public.

See the full schedule for the 2023 Summer Weekly Seminar Series >

Talk summary: Animals across the world, and montane organisms specifically, are responding rapidly and alarmingly to anthropogenic climate change. In this talk we will discuss how mammal populations in the Colorado Rocky Mountains are responding based on historical resurveys in the Front Range and the San Juan Mountains. We will emphasize how particular mammal traits and biogeographical aspects of particular mammal species make them more or less susceptible to extinction risks from rapidly warming temperatures. Additionally, we will discuss how beetles, specifically a charismatic group of carrion beetles, may respond to climate change based on their physiological traits of thermal and desiccation tolerance across their elevational ranges. These two case studies will illustrate how some of Colorado’s montane animals are and will be responding to climate change, and the important natural history and physiological aspects to consider in determining who and where particular organisms might be at the most risk.