Conservation Issues

Numerous factors currently threaten the populations of amphibians and reptiles in the Sky Islands. Historical cattle grazing patterns are one of the biggest factors. As with nearly all of the lowland areas in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, many montane ecosystems have been severely impacted by cattle grazing. We are fortunate in that the Pan Duro study site in Sierra San Luis, while once heavily grazed, has been virtually cleared of cattle (although a few rogue cows still roam remote areas). Thus, we have the opportunity to watch as ecosystems in our study area recover from chronic ecological disturbances, and hopefully the health of reptile and amphibian populations will continue to improve as the land recovers.

A more recently recognized threat, climate change, may have severe impacts on sky island ecosystems. Because the sky islands are just that--islands of cool, moist climate in seas of hotter, dryer ones--increases in temperature can completely wipe out these mountaintop refuges. We are endeavoring to elucidate the role of such climate change on biodiversity