Vol. 21 No. 1 (2026)
Articles

Assessing the climatic vulnerability of the Micrurus sangilensis (Niceforo Maria, 1942) under future scenarios

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  • Julián Arango-Lozano,
  • Karime Angarita-Corzo,
  • Felipe Toro-Cardona
Julián Arango-Lozano
Maestría en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Caldas, Manizales, Colombia
Karime Angarita-Corzo
Grupo de investigación CENTAURO. Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia
Felipe Toro-Cardona
Grupo de Ecología y Evolución de Vertebrados, Instituto de Biología, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/a_h-18167

Published 2026-01-20

Keywords

  • Biodiversity conservation,
  • climate change,
  • ecological niche modeling,
  • fragmented landscapes,
  • Micrurus sangilensis

How to Cite

Arango-Lozano, J., Angarita Corzo, K., & Toro Cardona, F. (2026). Assessing the climatic vulnerability of the Micrurus sangilensis (Niceforo Maria, 1942) under future scenarios. Acta Herpetologica, 21(1), 37–47. https://doi.org/10.36253/a_h-18167

Copyright (c) 2026 Julián Arango-Lozano, Karime Angarita-Corzo, Felipe Toro-Cardona

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Abstract

The vulnerable Micrurus sangilensis commonly known as the Santander coral snake distributes in dry and montane forests, ecosystems under severe anthropogenic pressure in northeastern Colombia. The habitat of this serpent is fragmented, and climate change may further intensify risks to the vegetation structure. We assessed whether the current distribution of the snake may be altered under different scenarios with climate change in the 2040-2060 years; aiming to recognize conservation priority areas. With ecological niche modeling we calculated current values of stability in the distribution range of the species, for the most conservative emission scenarios of Socio-Economic Pathways (SSP) 126, and 245; and the expected greater emissions 585 within five different global circulation models. We also escalated an index of vulnerability to land use change to 2050 in the remaining areas for the species, detecting prioritizing conservation zones. Our findings reveal a nearly 25% consistency of loss in the three SSP scenarios, while gaining stability varies between different GCMs. Over 37% of remaining suitable areas were categorized as highly vulnerable to land-use change, especially at elevations between 900 and 2000 m. We emphasize the need to integrate M. sangilensis habitats into Colombia’s protected area network, restore degraded ecosystems, and establish ecological corridors to mitigate fragmentation. While the most vulnerable to changing areas appear to be the ones with critical requirements for conservation; We recommend targeting conservation efforts in areas of low to medium vulnerability to change, which are less likely to undergo significant modifications over the next 30–40 years.

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