This dataset is a partial literature review of life history traits and habitat characteristics which may be important to climate change vulnerability in amphibians. We describe through empirical studies and texts of life history theory, which traits and characteristics we used to construct a climate change vulnerability assessment, and the justification for using those traits in our analysis. We do not claim this review includes all relevant literature germain to the topic of climate change vulnerability.

Climate change is a primary threat to biodiversity, but for most species, we still lack information required to assess their potential vulnerability to changes. Climate change vulnerability assessment (CCVA) is a widely-used technique to rank relative vulnerability to climate change based on species distributions, habitat associations, environmental tolerances, and life-history traits. For species that we expect are vulnerable to climate change yet are data deficient, like many amphibians, we often lack information required to construct traditional CCVAs. We extended the CCVA framework by constructing models based on life history theory, using empirical evidence of traits and distributions that reflected sensitivity of data-deficient species to environmental perturbation. These csv data files were assembled to perform climate change vulnerability assessments of the 31 amphibian species, both across the north central region and within individual US states. We incorporated information from species' life history traits and other characteristics along with climate projections of evapotranspiration deficit change, to score relative vulnerability of the 31 amphibians. Associated R code is for scoring relative vulnerability, where overall score is a product of exposure to climate change times sensitivity to that change, minus adaptive capacity of each species. All species are listed as Species of Greatest Conservation Need in at least one of 7 states in the North Central United States: Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas.

Climate change is a primary threat to biodiversity, but for most species, we still lack information required to assess their potential vulnerability to changes. Climate change vulnerability assessment (CCVA) is a widely-used technique to rank relative vulnerability to climate change based on species distributions, habitat associations, environmental tolerances, and life-history traits. For species that we expect are vulnerable to climate change yet are data deficient, like many amphibians, we often lack information required to construct traditional CCVAs. We extended the CCVA framework by constructing models based on life history theory, using empirical evidence of traits and distributions that reflected sensitivity of data-deficient species to environmental perturbation. These csv data files were assembled to perform climate change vulnerability assessments of the 31 amphibian species, both across the north central region and within individual US states. We incorporated information from species' life history traits and other characteristics along with climate projections of evapotranspiration deficit change, to score relative vulnerability of the 31 amphibians. Associated R code is for scoring relative vulnerability, where overall score is a product of exposure to climate change times sensitivity to that change, minus adaptive capacity of each species. All species are listed as Species of Greatest Conservation Need in at least one of 7 states in the North Central United States: Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas.

Amphibians are thought to be vulnerable to the effects of climate change, but often they are understudied. This makes assessing the potential vulnerability of amphibians to climate change difficult. We designed a study to evaluate potential vulnerability of amphibians to climate change based on their exposure to drying effects (evapotranspiration deficit), along with their sensitivity to increased drying and capacity to adapt to this change. We used a climate change vulnerability assessment framework to score relative vulnerability of amphibian species to climate change in the north-central United States based on both climate projections, life history traits, and other species characteristics. Sensitivity and adaptive capacity metrics were made up of both life history traits and characteristics of a species' environment, such as habitat breadth. This spreadsheet contains life history trait values and species characteristics for 31 species of amphibians, compiled from 8 different data sources. All species are listed as Species of Greatest Conservation Need in at least one of 7 states in the North Central United States: Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas.

Amphibians are thought to be vulnerable to the effects of climate change, but often they are understudied. This makes assessing the potential vulnerability of amphibians to climate change difficult. We designed a study to evaluate potential vulnerability of amphibians to climate change based on their exposure to drying effects (evapotranspiration deficit), along with their sensitivity to increased drying and capacity to adapt to this change. We used a climate change vulnerability assessment framework to score relative vulnerability of amphibian species to climate change in the north-central United States based on both climate projections, life history traits, and other species characteristics. Sensitivity and adaptive capacity metrics were made up of both life history traits and characteristics of a species' environment, such as habitat breadth. This spreadsheet contains life history trait values and species characteristics for 31 species of amphibians, compiled from 8 different data sources. All species are listed as Species of Greatest Conservation Need in at least one of 7 states in the North Central United States: Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas.

The attached spreadsheets are ranked climate change vulnerability estimates of amphibians in the north central United States. All species are listed as species of greatest conservation need in at least one of the 7 states in the north central region (Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas). Vulnerability scores are developed from exposure data from evapotranspiration deficit projections across 2 climate change scenarios, along with sensitivity and adaptive capacity traits from literature values and range maps. We used readily-available data from climate projections, range maps, and life history traits to score vulnerability in these data-deficient species, where more detailed life history information may not be available.

The attached spreadsheets are ranked climate change vulnerability estimates of amphibians in the north central United States. All species are listed as species of greatest conservation need in at least one of the 7 states in the north central region (Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas). Vulnerability scores are developed from exposure data from evapotranspiration deficit projections across 2 climate change scenarios, along with sensitivity and adaptive capacity traits from literature values and range maps. We used readily-available data from climate projections, range maps, and life history traits to score vulnerability in these data-deficient species, where more detailed life history information may not be available.

This dataset contains the components of and resultant Rarity and Climate Sensitivity (RCS) values for 90 species of frogs and toads native to the conterminous United States. The RCS metric uses point occurrences to describe area of occurrence, quantifies the variation of climate conditions within that area, and combines and scales the two for a multispecies assessment of intrinsic sensitivity to climate change. The RCS metric was calculated at two geographic extents, the conterminous US and the North American continent. We also used two spatial grains: 1 km buffered occurrence points and small watersheds (Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) 12 watershed boundaries within and HydroBASIN level 12 watershed boundaries outside the conterminous US). Point occurrences from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and HerpMapper were used to calculate area of occurrence at each spatial extent and grain size. Climate specificity was calculated by extracting five bioclimatic variables (annual mean temperature, maximum temperature of the warmest month, minimum temperature of the minimum month, annual precipitation, and precipitation seasonality) from the area of occurrence and calculating the area-weighted standard deviation of each climate variable for each species. Rarity, as described by area of occurrence, and climate sensitivity is scaled and combined to form the RCS index. Because we evaluated the relationships among intrinsic sensitivity, taxonomy, and conservation status, species taxonomic family, genera, International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List status, Endangered Species Act status, and Species of Greatest Conservation Need status is included in this dataset. Each row contains the calculated RCS index and its components for two spatial grain sizes for a unique species and spatial extent combination (90 species x 2 spatial extents = 180 rows). First posted - June 27, 2022 (available from author) Revised - October 20, 2022 (version 2.0)

This dataset contains the components of and resultant Rarity and Climate Sensitivity (RCS) values for 90 species of frogs and toads native to the conterminous United States. The RCS metric uses point occurrences to describe area of occurrence, quantifies the variation of climate conditions within that area, and combines and scales the two for a multispecies assessment of intrinsic sensitivity to climate change. The RCS metric was calculated at two geographic extents, the conterminous US and the North American continent. We also used two spatial grains: 1 km buffered occurrence points and small watersheds (Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) 12 watershed boundaries within and HydroBASIN level 12 watershed boundaries outside the conterminous US). Point occurrences from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and HerpMapper were used to calculate area of occurrence at each spatial extent and grain size. Climate specificity was calculated by extracting five bioclimatic variables (annual mean temperature, maximum temperature of the warmest month, minimum temperature of the minimum month, annual precipitation, and precipitation seasonality) from the area of occurrence and calculating the area-weighted standard deviation of each climate variable for each species. Rarity, as described by area of occurrence, and climate sensitivity is scaled and combined to form the RCS index. Because we evaluated the relationships among intrinsic sensitivity, taxonomy, and conservation status, species taxonomic family, genera, International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List status, Endangered Species Act status, and Species of Greatest Conservation Need status is included in this dataset. Each row contains the calculated RCS index and its components for two spatial grain sizes for a unique species and spatial extent combination (90 species x 2 spatial extents = 180 rows). First posted - June 27, 2022 (available from author) Revised - October 20, 2022 (version 2.0)

Climate change is substantially impacting earth’s biodiversity, with a massive number of affected species that are difficult to study comprehensively. An “indicator species” approach that generalizes species-specific climate change impacts to broader groups (e.g., ensembles) could theoretically help overcome this challenge and streamline climate-smart conservation planning. We assessed the viability of this approach using four specialist amphibians (Ascaphus montanus, Dicamptodon copei, Plethodon idahoensis, and Plethodon vandykei), which we expected would have similar climate-related trajectories given their shared dependence on a narrow range of groundwater-driven habitats. Using boosted regression trees, we constructed species distribution models (SDMs) for each species and (if appropriate) major intraspecific lineage, then projected changes in environmental suitability under two climate change scenarios (SSP370 and SSP585) and timeframes (mid-century and late-century). Contrary to our expectation, future suitability projections varied widely among species, with small-to-moderate projected gains in suitability for A. montanus, relatively small changes with ambiguous directionality for D. copei, large gains in multiple regions for P. idahoensis, and major losses-in-place for P. vandykei. In addition, lineage-specific SDMs that assumed different niches for coastal and Cascades P. vandykei populations projected climate vulnerability for only the latter, highlighting a need for better genetic and ecological data. Given our collective findings, attempts to generalize climate change projections for purported “indicator species” to larger groups can be misleading, even within narrowly-defined and highly specialized ensembles. Moreover, we found a strong link between recent historical SDM outputs and species-tailored variables (e.g., seep-related variables), but many of these variables lacked future projections under climate change and were thus not directly usable to forecast climate change responses. Lastly, our findings also highlight research and conservation needs for our study species under climate change, such as identifying taxonomic scales of niche variation and protecting in-situ climatic refugia.