PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Katie Leach AU - Ruth Kelly AU - Alison Cameron AU - W. Ian Montgomery AU - Neil Reid TI - Response to climate change is related to species traits in the Lagomorpha AID - 10.1101/001826 DP - 2014 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 001826 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2014/01/14/001826.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2014/01/14/001826.full AB - Climate change during the last five decades has impacted on natural systems significantly and the rate of current climate change is of great concern among conservation biologists. Here, we assess the projected change in the bioclimatic envelopes of all 87 species in the mammalian order Lagomorpha under future climate using expertly validated species distribution models. Results suggest that climate change will impact more than two-thirds of Lagomorphs, with leporids (rabbits, hares and jackrabbits) likely to undertake poleward shifts with little overall change in range extent, whilst pikas are likely to show extreme shifts to higher altitudes associated with marked range declines, including the likely extinction of Kozlov’s Pika (Ochotona koslowi). Species traits were associated with predictions of change, with smaller-bodied species more likely to exhibit range contractions and elevational increases, but showing little poleward movement. Lagomorphs vulnerable to climate change require urgent conservation management to mitigate range declines and/or extinctions.