Climate change and shifts in reintroduction

[Haliaeetus]

Hello,

do you know reintroduction projects that are cancelled because of past/future climate changes ? And conversely future plans that have been designed under future foreseeable climatic conditions ?
I add that the climatic conditions may not be the sole reason to redesign reintroduction projects, but they may be taken in account among other factors.

I've read a couple of examples on this forum but I would be curious to know more cases :

• a project to reintroduce Saiga in Hungary or Romania (?) where this species lived a few centuries ago, when the climate was colder and drier than now
• a project to reintroduce European Pond Turtles in Eastern England ; in this case it actually lived there in Prehistory but it's likely that the climate of this country would look more than the climate of France and thus more fit for the resettlement of this turtle

I've noticed two curious strange events in France about that.

First a project of Capercaillie reintroduction in the Vosges has sparkled controversy, because some specialists (including the animal photographer Vincent Munier) and nature NGOs have argued that the current and future conditions of these mountains wouldn't be fit for this bird (not only about climate but also about touristical activities, adn given the poor fate of past reintroductions elsewhere in continental Europe). I may have opposite arguments (especially a better situation in Eastern Alps and Balkans, and even increasing populations in Albania and Montenegro, that are quite warm countries) but it isn't properly the subject here.

Meanwhile, and coincidentally, an anticipation book called "Le Sourire du Crocodile" (Crocodile's Smile) depicts a future where (following accidental introductions) Crocodiles and Alligators would live and breed along the Rhône and in the lagoons of Camargue, as it is the case in Florida. It has been written by the agronomist Sylvie Brunel (not a biodiversity specialist) but with the support of the experts of La Ferme des Crocodiles (Crocodile zoo in Southern France) and it isn't a book about reintroductions but it may give a piece of reflexion about the future map of wildlife across the world and our current / future reintroduction projects.

 

[Jurek7]

Distribution of animals is more dependent of the 'typical' threats like hunting and habitat destruction. As the result, many large animals used to live in drastically different climates than now before being wiped out. Often the recent distribution of species is actually the marginal climate.

In the case of European pond turtle, it is very likely that it was hunted out in Britain like many other native animals, quite independently of any climate. It historically existed in colder parts of Europe than England.