The Siberian flying squirrel, an endangered species, stands to lose most of its suitable habitat to climate change.PROFESSOR JO YEONG-SEOK
Four of five recently studied endangered mammals in Korea will lose nearly all the habitat that suits them by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions stay high, namely the long-tailed goral and the Siberian flying squirrel, according to a new study.
A team led by Jo Yeong-seok, a professor at Daegu University, examined how climate change could reshape the habitat for five legally protected mammals through the end of the century. The study, published Monday in the international journal Animals, modeled future range for the Eurasian otter, long-tailed goral, leopard cat, Siberian flying squirrel and yellow-throated marten under several climate scenarios.
The otter and the goral are listed as Class I on Korea's endangered wildlife list, the most at-risk tier. The leopard cat, the flying squirrel and the marten are Class II.
Four of the five face severe losses under a high-carbon scenario known as SSP3-7.0, which assumes weak mitigation policy, slow technological progress and a society left exposed to warming.
The bleakest outlook falls on the goral and the flying squirrel, both cold-adapted mountain species. Land suitable for the goral now covers just 3.3 percent of Korea, and 98.7 percent to 100 percent of that could disappear from the 2060s onward. Suitable habitat for the flying squirrel, which now accounts for about 22 percent of the country's land area, is projected to largely vanish over the same period.
"Gorals and flying squirrels mainly live in cold places, so Korea's mountain regions are effectively the southern limit of their range," Jo said. "As temperatures rise, they are moving higher up the mountains, but if it gets even hotter, they will have nowhere left to escape, putting them at risk of mountaintop extinction."
The leopard cat, listed as endangered in Korea.PROFESSOR JO YEONG-SEOK
A yellow-throated marten prepares to hunt at Upo Wetland in Changnyeong County, South Gyeongsang, on May 14. The Class II endangered species is an apex predator on the Korean Peninsula and spends most of its time in trees, coming down to hunt.NEWS1
The yellow-throated marten, the only one of five endangered mammals projected to gain habitat as the climate warms.PROFESSOR JO YEONG-SEOK
The leopard cat and the otter hold up better in the near term, but the study still projects severe losses by 2100, with 80 percent to 100 percent of suitable habitat disappearing.
The yellow-throated marten is the only exception. Its current range remains largely intact, and new suitable territory is projected to expand by as much as 1.6 times the current level.
"Yellow-throated martens mainly live in warmer regions such as Southeast Asia," Prof. Jo said. "A warmer climate appears to work in their favor."
The projections account only for climate-related threats. Once urbanization and other human pressures are added, the real outlook could be worse.
The Siberian flying squirrel, an endangered species, stands to lose most of its suitable habitat to climate change.PROFESSOR JO YEONG-SEOK
"Survival in the real environment will be heavily constrained by human activity, including road networks, wildlife-blocking fences and large wildfires," the research team wrote.
"Priority should go to protecting the main habitats that exist now, such as the Baekdudaegan mountain range [a mountain range and watershed that runs across the length of the Korean Peninsula], and to building ecological corridors."
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
