Climate change and its effects on the distribution pattern of Critically Endangered (CR) lizards in Iran

Abstract

Introduction: In the present study, it has been tried to investigate the climate change effect between current and 2050 on three critically endangered lizards in Iran.
Materials & Methods: For this purpose, three species have been selected Phrynocephalus horvathi, Eremias pleskei, Darevskia kopetdaghica that distributed in northwestern and northeastern part of Iran.
Result: Ecological niche modeling indicated that current distribution range of all three species is relatively smaller than predicted models, but during 30 years ahead (till 2050) these suitable areas will be decreased about 50% for E. pleskei and 30% for Ph. horvathi or more than 50% for D. kopetdaghica. Minimum temperature of coldest month and coldest quarter are the most important factors for this variation. Increasing the global warming for next 30 years (till 2050) will change the temperature in different seasons and this event may have direct effect on the lizards that categorized as cold blood animals.
Conclusion: Conservation management and evaluation the protected areas can prevent the extinction of animals in face of climate change effects. However, increasing the public awareness about the importance of biodiversity conservation is essential.