University of South Australia (UniSA) Media Release
A team of international scientists alarmed by the loss of biodiversity across the world due to climate change has proposed a new approach to managing vulnerable landscapes, focusing on sites that are least impacted by changing weather.
Known as climate change-refugia, these places experience weather conditions that are the most favourable for their survival and could hold the key to reducing species extinctions, ecologists say.
In a new paper authored by scientists from Australia, Canada, the United States and Hungary, the researchers have laid out a framework to identify, protect and restore refugia from climate change.
The paper, published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, calls for an alternative to traditional conservation efforts, which have focused on creating static protected areas.
Conservation biologist and lead author, Associate Professor Gunnar Keppel from the University of South Australia, says the speed and scale at which climate change is progressing demands a new approach.
“Our planet is changing rapidly,” Assoc Prof Keppel says. “Events like the large-scale dieback of trees, mass bleaching of corals on the Great Barrier Reef, unprecedented heatwaves, rapid thawing of glaciers and more frequent fires highlight the potential for major changes in biodiversity and ecosystems.
“The speed and scale of this change is challenging traditional approaches to conservation. For example, traditional protected areas may not shield threatened ecosystems from extreme droughts,” he says.
Instead, vulnerable ecosystems should be assessed along more practical lines to identify the places least impacted by drought stress, for example. It is here that species will have the best chance of resisting climate change, the authors argue.
“However, without support, species in these least impacted places may also struggle to survive as climate change progresses. Support for species could be in various forms, such as providing limited watering to trees in a valley during an extreme drought.
“The degree of management intervention required will depend on how well refugia can resist climate change impacts and on how severely they are affected by other disturbances. Refugia could potentially help to prevent the extinction of numerous species.”
[textblock style=”7″]
Like what we do at The AIMN?
You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.
Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!
Your contribution to help with the running costs of this site will be gratefully accepted.
You can donate through PayPal or credit card via the button below, or donate via bank transfer: BSB: 062500; A/c no: 10495969
[/textblock]
Humans, quite defective really, but, egotistically indifferent, complacent, confident, are a menace to themselves and the planet, because the worst of them with the worst attitudes get into order giving controlling positions, and demand attention, obedience, decisive power. One hundred professional people of proven quality, like this author, are squashed and thrashed by one expatriate, mentally maggot ridden, expatriate, tax bludging, warty, wife dumping nematodal nitwit of a yankee media type.., and we are roperly prooted in our efforts to think clearly about a better future for us all.., which is the most sensible thing to do right now.
They can urge all they want but, Homo suppposedlysapiens being the greedy, hubristic, irrational species it is, it ain’t going to happen.
Focus the majority of conservation attention only upon remnants of the highest ecological value and greatest resilience that exist in environments best suited for continued survival amidst declining conditions…
This is because, based upon current indicators and subsequent extrapolations, anything living within fragments or margins is already pretty much predestined for extinction.
Cold equations amidst a losing battle.
PS, a deep bow to leefe for their contributions to applied local ecology (blessed be the citizen scientists), and a perfunctory nod to Phil for at least continuing to pretend to give a rat’s scat.