Current Events: Global Warming Affects Chipmunk Genes

          According to the University of California Berkeley, global warming is causing chipmunks living in the High Sierra to move up to higher and cooler land.  They were originally found at altitudes of 7,800 feet, but have now moved up by as much as 1,640 feet.  Because of this, they are losing their available habitat and are forced to live in smaller and more isolated groups.  This could lead to genetic diseases caused by interbreeding that would not have been present in the chipmunks' lives before.  In order to figure out exactly how much of an impact this is having on the genetic diversity of alpine chipmunks, scientists compared 146 DNA samples from from of these organisms living today, to 88 samples from past chipmunks.  These experiments resulted in the fact that alpine chipmunks now have a much less rich allele diversity than they did back when the 88 older samples were alive.  At the same time, scientists completed the exact same experiment with lodgepole chipmunks (another species of chipmunk that thrived in lower elevations than alpine chipmunks).  They did not find any radical genetic differences in this species, because they lived lower down, and did not have to migrate to higher altitudes in order to survive Global Warming.  The alpine chipmunks could face becoming threatened or even extinct wildlife if this continues. 

Resource:  http://summitcountyvoice.com/2012/02/20/global-warming-sierra-chipmunks-take-genetic-hit/