Nocturnal mammals and climate change
Hedgehog (Credit: Emily Marnham/PTES)
Climate change is a major threat to species worldwide, but we still know little about how nocturnal mammals are being impacted. Connecting People and Landscapes aims to understand the vulnerability of the UK’s nocturnal mammals to climate change. We want to identify the species under highest threat from climate change and use this to inform landscape-scale management across the UK’s agricultural landscape.
Working in partnership with Peoples Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) and University of Exeter, the Bat Conservation Trust will be looking at long-term data that will enable us to assess changes in morphology and phenology over the past few decades and address these important questions. As well as exploring data from PTES National Dormouse Monitoring Scheme and Big Hedgehog Map, the project will be asking both bat and hedgehog carers who have access to unique data that will enable us to understand responses to changes to share any data they have with us.
Read the Data Request letter to Bat Carers and Rehabilitators here.
Climate predictions show that the UK may become a stronghold for many continental European species as parts of their range warm and potentially become unsuitable, while warming conditions in the UK are predicted to make the UK more suitable for warm adapted species currently not found here. We need to act now to guide effective landscape scale action to improve habitats for all species.
