Brown-capped Rosy-Finch

The Brown-capped Rosy-Finch (Leucosticte australis) is an alpine specialist species endemic to the Southern Rocky Mountains (Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico). While climate change broadly results in species shifting distributions poleward and upward in elevation, the Brown-capped Rosy-Finch has limited potential for poleward range shift given the isolation of the Southern Rocky Mountains from other high-elevation mountain ranges and the presence of congeneric species that already inhabit those mountain ranges. Furthermore, Brown-capped Rosy-Finches already occupy nesting cliffs at the highest elevations (upwards of 13,500 ft), which limits the possibility for major upslope range shifts. Given these features of their range, we were interested in understanding how this species may respond to climate change.

Team: In collaboration with scientists at the University of California Santa Cruz, the University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Results: Population genetic structure was characterized by weak genetic differentiation, with two populations identified: Southern Rockies (ornage) and Pike’s Peak (blue). Our study demonstrated that forecasting climate vulnerability from ecological and evolutionary factors reveals insights into population-level vulnerability to climate change that are obfuscated when either approach is considered independently. For the Brown-capped Rosy-Finch, our results suggest that persistence may depend on rapid adaptation to novel climate conditions in a contracted breeding range. Importantly, we demonstrate the need to characterize novel climate conditions that influence uncertainty in forecasting methods. Read the full paper below!

Bird Migration Explorer: Click here to see how Audubon’s Bird Migration Explorer has incorporated our Brown-capped Rosy-Finch genoscape into their base map.

Publications:

DeSaix MG, George TL, Seglund AE, Spellman GM, Zavaleta ES, and KC Ruegg. 2022. Forecasting climage change response in an alpine specialist songbird reveals the importance of considering novel climate. Diversity and Distributions 00: 1-16.