UVic study finds 2021 heat dome decimated some species, while others thrived<\/p>\n
Published 12:00 pm Thursday, March 19, 2026<\/p>\n
Though mussels were baked by the billions, insect larvae cooked inside scorched cherries, and baby birds plummeted to their deaths from their overheating nests, a UVic study found that some species did just fine during the 2021 heat wave that killed hundreds of people in B.C.<\/p>\n
According to a new UVic-led study published on March 11 in Nature Ecology and Evolution, researchers found that the heat wave\u2019s effect on species was detrimental, but nuanced, changing depending on factors such as whether cover was available, a species\u2019 inherent ability to deal with heat, and behaviour.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith little forewarning, we relied on whatever studies were already underway or observations made during the event,\u201d said first author Julia Baum, a biology professor at UVic, in a news release. \u201cThus, despite the breadth of this study, I suspect we have barely scratched the surface of the heat dome\u2019s ecological effects.\u201d<\/p>\n
The heat wave lasted from June 25 to July 2, and ended up being one of the most intense climate change-fueled heat waves on record, with land temperatures reaching over 50 C in some areas of the province. The researchers used remote sensing, a meta-analysis of field data, computer modelling and media reports to paint a broad picture of its effects on plant and animal species.<\/p>\n
More than half the thatched barnacle population died, as did 92 per cent of bay mussels. Before the heat wave, one in every two blueberry plants had aphids on them. Afterwards, it dropped to less than one in every 100 plants. Counts of surf scoters, a native sea duck, dropped by 56 per cent post-heat wave, and daily camera trap detections of caribou dropped by half.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, sea lettuce was better at handling the heat than its seaweed counterparts, and took advantage of their die-off and proliferated, increasing its beach area by 65 per cent after the heat wave. Moose also bounced back to the same number of daily camera trap detections after the heat wave as before.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know from previous studies that moose are sensitive to high temperatures, so it\u2019s possible they were able to avoid the hottest areas by selecting cooler microclimates, such as sites with denser forest cover,\u201d said co-author Cole Burton, in the release.<\/p>\n
The researchers also found that cooler, wetter areas of the province were able to absorb 30 per cent more carbon than usual, while warmer, more arid areas absorbed 75 per cent less than usual.<\/p>\n
Streamflow from snow and ice melt increased 40 per cent during the heat wave as the snowpack melted, before dropping below average later that summer, while wildfire activity surged 37 per cent during the heat wave and 395 per cent the following week. In August, when alpine systems were baking in the sun and really needed water, there was a deficit, noted co-author Diane Srivastava.<\/p>\n
She warned that repeated heat waves would not only melt snow too quickly, but also start to draw on long-term sources such as glaciers, accelerating their melting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UVic study finds 2021 heat dome decimated some species, while others thrived Published 12:00 pm Thursday, March 19,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,66],"class_list":["post-551498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}