Data from: The effects of climate change on mesocarnivores: A global review and meta-analysis

Climate change is a major threat to biodiversity, affecting a wide range
of species in different ecological networks. Higher trophic level species,
such as mesocarnivores, are particularly affected due to bottom-up and
top-down cascading effects. The magnitude of climate change impacts on
mesocarnivores may vary between regions and taxonomic groups, but this
variation is poorly understood. We reviewed 119 articles on the effects of
climate change on mesocarnivores (Order Carnivora). We found an increase
in studies of climate change effects over time, with canids and mustelids
being the most studied carnivores, and herpestids, procyonids, viverrids,
and ailurids being the least studied. Most of the identified studies were
from Europe, followed by North and South America. Africa and Oceania had
fewer published studies. The most common approach to assessing the impact
of climate change on carnivores was based on the study of species spatial
ecology and habitat use, but also on population and community ecology. We
used 21 of those articles that used ecological niche modeling to assess
future distribution changes as the basis for our meta-analysis. Our
results show that although some habitat generalists, mainly canids and
procyonids, with a wide range of habitats may benefit from climate change,
most mesocarnivores are likely to experience range contractions. However,
this general pattern varies among carnivore families. Species from arid
environments, as well as those that are specialists in montane and
tropical forests, are likely to experience the largest declines in range.
This is especially true for species from Africa, Asia, and South America,
as these regions are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Our study
highlights that climate change affects carnivores in different ways and
that there is also regional variation in impacts; therefore, conservation
efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change should be tailored to
each continent and species.