Majestic African antelopes known as gemsbok have been roaming the U.S. southwest since their introduction in the 1960s and 1970s. Brought to New Mexico as game species for hunting, gemsbok quickly settled in, expanding more than 100 kilometers from their introduction point. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers say that’s due to their exceptional adaptations to arid conditions, which they predict will dramatically expand under climate change.
In a new study, the researchers reveal the potential extent of the exotic species’ spread by the year 2100, with suitable habitat spilling well beyond New Mexico into Texas, Arizona, Utah, California, and even as far north as southern Washington and Montana. Should gemsbok disperse and proliferate into all of these spaces, the impacts to cattle, native wildlife, and plant communities could be significant.
The team mapped where gemsbok could survive under future climate scenarios based on their current habitat preferences.
“We turned towards participant science to do this work. When people contribute photos to apps like iNaturalist, the occurrence records get scraped into something called the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. From that, we were able to use a statistical method called Maxent to find habitat associations for gemsbok,” said the study’s lead author, Nathan Alexander, who began the research as a doctoral student in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at U. of I. He’s now a postdoctoral scholar at Southern Illinois University.
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University of Illinois Extension develops educational programs, extends knowledge, and builds partnerships to support people, communities, and their environments as part of the state's land-grant institution. Extension serves as the leading public outreach effort for University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences in all 102 Illinois counties through a network of 27 multi-county units and over 500 staff statewide. Extension’s mission is responsive to eight strategic priorities — community, economy, environment, food and agriculture, health, partnerships, technology and discovery, and workforce excellence — that are served through five program areas — 4-H youth development, agriculture and agribusiness, community and economic development, health and community wellness, and natural resources, environment, and energy.