A tiny native mouse that lives in one of Australia’s harshest environments will have to dig deep to survive predicted temperature rises over the coming decades, according to new research from UWA.
Temperatures are on track to rise 3C by 2050 in the Pilbara region, where the elusive western pebble mouse makes its home in a complex burrow system topped by a mound made up of hundreds of pebbles that the female pebble mouse shifts itself.
Currently the burrows are believed to run to a maximum depth of about 60cm, but a new study from UWA behavioural ecologist Dr Renee Firman suggests pebble mice may have to dig up to a metre underground to survive in the future.
“The predicted depth required to escape the heat of future summers – 100cm – is striking,” Dr Firman says.
The pebble mouse is a keystone species – really important for the ecosystem – and once you start losing species like that, things can start shutting down fairly quickly.
Dr Renee Firman
“If those burrows are getting to 60cm now and in another 25 years we’re expecting them to go to a metre, it’s kind of concerning. I’m not sure they would be able to do that – there could be a massive decline in the population.”
Dr Firman started her career studying sex selection in invasive house mice but in recent years switched to studying how native rodents in arid and semi-arid areas are responding to climate change.
“I think we’re all fairly certain now: things are bad, but they’re only going to get worse,” she says.
“That’s obviously going to have massive implications for humans but as a zoologist, my primary concern is how animals can respond to those changes.
