Climate Change Refugia for Terrestrial Biodiversity

Climate Change Refugia for Terrestrial Biodiversity PDF Author: April E. Reside
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biodiversity
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
"Climate change is already underway, and we are currently looking down the barrel of a four to five degree Celsius increase in global mean temperatures by the end of the century. This level of climate change will have manifold impacts on human livelihoods and infrastructure, and will also have serious consequences for the world's biodiversity. How can we best conserve biodiversity in the face of this global, ubiquitous driver of biodiversity loss? This report begins the process of identifying and ranking such climate change refugia across the Australian continent. We start broadly, looking at how changes in climate are likely to play out across the Australian continent, and we examine these changes from a biological perspective (led by the Centre forTropical Biodiversity and Climate Change at James Cook University). This reveals that the Australian continent is likely to experience catastrophic increases in temperature across most of the continent. The dangerous magnitude of these increases in temperature is clearly demonstrated by reference to the normal inter - annual variation in temperature at each location. Against this backdrop, the projected shift in mean temperature at all locations across Australia is alarming. Across most of the continent, mean annual temperatures will shift to be greater than five standard deviations from current temperatures. This is equivalent to average temperatures shifting by a magnitude that would only be expected to occur once every 3. 5 million years under current levels of variation. That this shift will play out in less than 75 years suggests that most vertebrate species will be unable to adapt, and that retreat to refugia is the only likely viable option for these species to persist."--Executive summary.

Climate Change Refugia for Terrestrial Biodiversity

Climate Change Refugia for Terrestrial Biodiversity PDF Author: April E. Reside
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biodiversity
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
"Climate change is already underway, and we are currently looking down the barrel of a four to five degree Celsius increase in global mean temperatures by the end of the century. This level of climate change will have manifold impacts on human livelihoods and infrastructure, and will also have serious consequences for the world's biodiversity. How can we best conserve biodiversity in the face of this global, ubiquitous driver of biodiversity loss? This report begins the process of identifying and ranking such climate change refugia across the Australian continent. We start broadly, looking at how changes in climate are likely to play out across the Australian continent, and we examine these changes from a biological perspective (led by the Centre forTropical Biodiversity and Climate Change at James Cook University). This reveals that the Australian continent is likely to experience catastrophic increases in temperature across most of the continent. The dangerous magnitude of these increases in temperature is clearly demonstrated by reference to the normal inter - annual variation in temperature at each location. Against this backdrop, the projected shift in mean temperature at all locations across Australia is alarming. Across most of the continent, mean annual temperatures will shift to be greater than five standard deviations from current temperatures. This is equivalent to average temperatures shifting by a magnitude that would only be expected to occur once every 3. 5 million years under current levels of variation. That this shift will play out in less than 75 years suggests that most vertebrate species will be unable to adapt, and that retreat to refugia is the only likely viable option for these species to persist."--Executive summary.

Environmental Crisis

Environmental Crisis PDF Author: Roger Laurence Kitching
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780864437075
Category : Biodiversity
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description


The Impacts of Climate Change

The Impacts of Climate Change PDF Author: Trevor Letcher
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 012822374X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 572

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Book Description
The Impacts of Climate Change: A Comprehensive Study of Physical, Biophysical, Social and Political Issues presents the very real issues associated with climate change and global warming and how it affects the planet and everyone on it. From a physical perspective, the book covers such topics as population pressures, food issues, rising sea-levels and coastline degradation, and health. It then goes on to present social impacts, such as humanitarian issues, ethics, adaptation, urban issues, local action, and socio-economic issues. Finally, it addresses the political impacts, such as justice issues and politics of climate change in different locations. By offering this holistic review of the latest impacts of climate change, the book helps researchers to better understand what needs to be done in order to move toward renewable energy, change societal habits, and move toward sustainable development. Offers comprehensive coverage of the impacts of climate change from multiple perspectives (physical, social, and political) to develop synergy across disciplines Presents the latest research and developments on the understanding of climate change impacts on a variety of scales and disciplines Includes case studies and extensive references for further exploration

Biodiversity in Ecosystems

Biodiversity in Ecosystems PDF Author: Juan A. Blanco
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 953512028X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 644

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Book Description
The term biodiversity has become a mainstream concept that can be found in any newspaper at any given time. Concerns on biodiversity protection are usually linked to species protection and extinction risks for iconic species, such as whales, pandas and so on. However, conserving biodiversity has much deeper implications than preserving a few (although important) species. Biodiversity in ecosystems is tightly linked to ecosystem functions such as biomass production, organic matter decomposition, ecosystem resilience, and others. Many of these ecological processes are also directly implied in services that the humankind obtains from ecosystems. The first part of this book will introduce different concepts and theories important to understand the links between ecosystem function and ecosystem biodiversity. The second part of the book provides a wide range of different studies showcasing the evidence and practical implications of such relationships.

Biodiversity and Climate Change

Biodiversity and Climate Change PDF Author: Thomas E. Lovejoy
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300206119
Category : Biodiversity
Languages : en
Pages : 414

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Book Description
An essential, up-to-date look at the critical interactions between biological diversity and climate change that will serve as an immediate call to action The physical and biological impacts of climate change are dramatic and broad-ranging. People who care about the planet and manage natural resources urgently need a synthesis of our rapidly growing understanding of these issues. In this all-new sequel to the 2005 volume Climate Change and Biodiversity, leading experts in the field summarize observed changes, assess what the future holds, and offer suggested responses. From extinction risk to ocean acidification, from the future of the Amazon to changes in ecosystem services, and from geoengineering to the power of ecosystem restoration, this book captures the sweep of climate change transformation of the biosphere.

Ecological Restoration Law

Ecological Restoration Law PDF Author: Afshin Akhtar-Khavari
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429887256
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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Book Description
Ecological restoration is as essential as sustainable development for the health of the biosphere. Restoration, however, has been a low priority of most countries' environmental laws, which tend to focus narrowly on rehabilitation of small, discrete sites rather than the more ambitious recovery of entire ecosystems and landscapes. Through critical theoretical perspectives and topical case studies, this book's diverse contributors explore a more ambitious agenda for ecological restoration law. Not only do they investigate current laws and other governance mechanisms; they also consider the philosophical and methodological bases for the law to take ecological restoration more seriously. Through exploration of themes relating to time, space, geography, semiotics, social justice, and scientific knowledge, this book offers innovative and critical insights into ecological restoration law.

Australia's Biodiversity and Climate Change

Australia's Biodiversity and Climate Change PDF Author: Will Steffen (Lead Author)
Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING
ISBN: 0643101829
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Australia's unique biodiversity is under threat from a rapidly changing climate. The effects of climate change are already discernible at all levels of biodiversity – genes, species, communities and ecosystems. Many of Australia's most valued and iconic natural areas – the Great Barrier Reef, south-western Australia, the Kakadu wetlands and the Australian Alps – are among the most vulnerable. But much more is at stake than saving iconic species or ecosystems. Australia's biodiversity is fundamental to the country's national identity, economy and quality of life. In the face of uncertainty about specific climate scenarios, ecological and management principles provide a sound basis for maximising opportunities for species to adapt, communities to reorganise and ecosystems to transform while maintaining basic functions critical to human society. This innovative approach to biodiversity conservation under a changing climate leads to new challenges for management, policy development and institutional design. This book explores these challenges, building on a detailed analysis of the interactions between a changing climate and Australia's rich but threatened biodiversity. Australia's Biodiversity and Climate Change is an important reference for policy makers, researchers, educators, students, journalists, environmental and conservation NGOs, NRM managers, and private landholders with an interest in biodiversity conservation in a rapidly changing world.

Climate Change Impacts on Biodiversity

Climate Change Impacts on Biodiversity PDF Author: Laura Elizabeth Coristine
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Conservation is plagued by the issue of prioritization - what to conserve and where to conserve it - which relies on identification and assessment of risks. In this body of work, I identify some of the risks related to climate change impacts on biodiversity, as well as potential solutions. Climate changes are underway across nearly all terrestrial areas and will continue in response to greenhouse gas emissions over centuries. Other extinction drivers, such as habitat loss due to urbanization, commonly operate over localized areas. Urbanization contributes, at most, less than 2% of the total range loss for terrestrial species at risk when averaged within an ecodistrict (Chapter 2). Documented impacts of climate change, to date, include: extinction, population loss, reduction in range area, and decreased abundance for multiple taxonomic groups. Examining species' and populations' physiological limits provides insight into the mechanistic basis, as well as geography, of climate change impacts (Chapter 3). Climate changes, and the ecological impacts of climate changes, are scale-dependent. Thus, the biotic implications are more accurately assessed through comparisons of local impacts for populations. Under a scenario of climate change, equatorward margins may be strongly limited by climatic conditions and not by biotic interactions. Yet, geographic responses at poleward margins do not appear directly linked to changes in breeding season temperature (Chapter 4). New ideas on how regions with attenuated climate change (climate refugia) may be used to lower species climate-related extinction risk while simultaneously improving habitat connectivity should be considered in the context of potential future consequences (i.e. range disjunction, alternative biological responses) (Chapter 5). Contemporary climate refugia are identifiable along multiple climatic dimensions, and are similar in size to current protected areas (Chapter 6). Determining how, when, and where species distributions are displaced by climate change as well as methods of reducing climatic displacement involves integrating knowledge from distribution shift rates for populations, occurrence of climate refugia, and dispersal barriers. Such assessments, in the Yellowstone to Yukon region, identify dramatically different pathways for connectivity than assessments that are not informed by considerations of species richness and mobility (Chapter 7).

Protecting the Wild

Protecting the Wild PDF Author: George Wuerthner
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1610915488
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
Protected natural areas have historically been the primary tool of conservationists to conserve land and wildlife. These parks and reserves are set apart to forever remain in contrast to those places where human activities, technologies, and developments prevail. But even as the biodiversity crisis accelerates, a growing number of voices are suggesting that protected areas are passé. Conservation, they argue, should instead focus on lands managed for human use—working landscapes—and abandon the goal of preventing human-caused extinctions in favor of maintaining ecosystem services to support people. If such arguments take hold, we risk losing support for the unique qualities and values of wild, undeveloped nature. Protecting the Wild offers a spirited argument for the robust protection of the natural world. In it, experts from five continents reaffirm that parks, wilderness areas, and other reserves are an indispensable—albeit insufficient—means to sustain species, subspecies, key habitats, ecological processes, and evolutionary potential. Using case studies from around the globe, they present evidence that terrestrial and marine protected areas are crucial for biodiversity and human well-being alike, vital to countering anthropogenic extinctions and climate change. A companion volume to Keeping the Wild: Against the Domestication of Earth, Protecting the Wild provides a necessary addition to the conversation about the future of conservation in the so-called Anthropocene, one that will be useful for academics, policymakers, and conservation practitioners at all levels, from local land trusts to international NGOs.

Wildlife, Fire & Future Climate

Wildlife, Fire & Future Climate PDF Author: Brendan Mackey
Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING
ISBN: 9780643067561
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
The conservation of Earth's forest ecosystems is one of the great environmental challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. This volume explores these themes through a landscape-wide study of refugia and future climate in the tall, wet forests of the Central Highlands of Victoria.