Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Toro Farmer, Gerardo

Area of Concentration

Natural Sciences

Abstract

In 2016 when Donald Trump ran for president he campaigned for the construction of a border wall. Many scientists agree that the species in the borderlands would be impacted by this barrier. The objectives of the paper are to see how the border wall may impact species distribution and to see if they are vulnerable to climate change. To answer this ArcGIS and a Climate Change Vulnerability Index program were used. Maps were created with data showing the ranges for seven species against the proposed border wall. To determine vulnerability to climate change NatureServe’s Climate Change Vulnerability Index was used, this requires the user to input designations based on a species life history as well as climate predictions to produce the vulnerability score. The findings of this project showed that all seven species had a high or extreme vulnerability to climate change. The maps showed all species had their ranges intersect the proposed border wall indicating some disturbance to their range.

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