Life history consequences of climate change in hibernating mammals: a review

Climatic shifts to warmer and often drier conditions are challenging terrestrial species worldwide. These shifts are occurring more rapidly at higher elevations and latitudes, likely causing disproportionate effects to mammalian hibernators there. While there is some information about how these species' ranges are responding to climatic shifts, we lack an understanding of how climate components are affecting species' life history variation, which is key to individual success and population-level resilience. We reviewed the literature to identify the direction of life history responses to climate change in mammalian hibernators along three axes: latitudinal, elevational and temporal. We found 39 studies involving 27 species that reported climate effects on our four target life history traits - phenology, body mass/condition and growth, reproduction and survival. We found warmer temperatures are advancing hibernator phenology and increasing reproductive success. By contrast, warming and drying trends are having uncertain effects on body condition, and complex effects on survival - depending on season, age class, latitude and elevation. We found no pattern of significant climate-trait outcomes by duration or decade of study. More research on drought conditions - particularly in relation to resource availability - would help inform hibernator susceptibility to increased drying trends expected to intensify globally. Notably, our results are highly biased towards small mammal hibernators in Northern Hemisphere alpine/mountain ecosystems, with few long-term studies conducted on Southern Hemisphere hibernators. This review highlights that phenological shifts constitute one of the most obvious consequences of climate change, yet, the timing of life history events (e.g. timing of migration, reproduction, hibernation) remains poorly understood. Further integration of insights from physiologists, evolutionary biologists and population ecologists working on wild populations will improve our collective understanding of the effects of seasonal climatic shifts on mammalian hibernator life history traits, key drivers of their population-level persistence.

Automated summary

Global climate change is impacting the life history traits of mammalian hibernators, with warmer temperatures advancing phenology and increasing reproductive success, while warming and drying trends have uncertain effects on body condition and survival.