Climate change is threatening global ecosystems through its impact on
the survival of individual species and their ecological functions. Despite the important role of understorey plants in forest ecosystems,
climate impact assessments on understorey plants and their role in
supporting wildlife habitat are scarce in the literature. Here we assess
climate-change impacts on understorey bamboo species with an emphasis
on their ecological function as a food resource for endangered giant
pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). An ensemble of bamboo
distribution projections associated with multiple climate-change
projections and bamboo dispersal scenarios indicates a substantial
reduction in the distributional ranges of three dominant bamboo species
in the Qinling Mountains, China during the twenty-first century. As
these three species comprise almost the entire diet of the panda
population in the region, the projected changes distribution suggest a
potential shortage of food for this population, unless alternative food
sources become available. Although the projections were developed under
unavoidable simplifying assumptions and uncertainties, they indicate
potential challenges for panda conservation and underscore the
importance of incorporating interspecific interactions into
climate-change impact assessments and associated conservation planning.
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