Climate Change Refugia for Terrestrial Biodiversity: Defining Areas That Promote Species Persistence and Ecosystem Resilience in the Face of Global Climate Change

April E. Reside, Jeremy Vanderwal, Ben L. Phillips, Luke P. Shoo, Dan F. Rosauer, Barbara J. Anderson, Justin A. Welbergen, Craig C. Moritz, Simon Ferrier, Thomas D. Harwood, Kristen J. Williams, Brendan Mackey, Sonia Hugh, Stephen E. Williams

Research output: Book/Research ReportResearch report

Abstract

We are currently facing the likelihood of severe climate change before the close of thecentury. In the face of such a global driver of species loss, we urgently need to identifyrefugia that will shelter species from the worst impacts of climate change. This will bea critical component of successful conservation and management of our biodiversity.Despite this, little is known about how best to identify refugia in the landscape, and thepractical strategies needed to identify, protect and expand refugia are just beginning tobe developed. Identifying refugia that will protect most species, or large numbers ofspecies, remains a complex and daunting endeavour due to the large variations inclimatic and biotic requirements of species.A first step to identifying refugia for biodiversity across Australia is to locate the areaswhich show the least change into the future (i.e. the most environmentally stable),particularly along axes of temperature and precipitation. The second and crucial step isto identify the areas that will retain most of their biodiversity and provide opportunitiesfor additional species to relocate to into the future. Using these approaches in thisproject, we take the first steps to identify refugial areas across the Australian continentunder contemporary climate change scenarios. We find that the southern and easternparts of the continent contain refugia that many species will retreat to over the next 75years, but that the current reserve system may be inadequate to allow species to shiftto and persist in these areas. Disturbingly, we also find that there is a large portion ofthe Australian vertebrate community for which adequate natural refugia do not appearto exist. Fine-scaled regional analyses will be required to clarify these broad findings,and we examine a number of case studies demonstrating how these regional analysesmight best proceed.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationGold Coast, Qld.
PublisherNational Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility
Number of pages230
ISBN (Print)9781925039443
Publication statusPublished - 2013

Bibliographical note

© 2013 James Cook University and the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the copyright holder.

Keywords

  • climatic changes
  • biodiversity
  • wildlife refuges
  • Australia

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