CLIMATE CHANGE

Global climate change must be considered in any conservation planning process. If changing climates are not considered, the Conservation Lands Network might not support target species in the long term. The project used geographic stratification and high conservation goals to build in a buffer against climate change by ensuring representation and redundancy. This strategy effectively captures a broad range of climatic gradients that contribute to the region’s species richness. Additionally, the connectivity captured by the Conservation Lands Network provides species room to move as temperatures change.

In addition to climate change, the project looked closely at eight other viability factors that are also affected by climate change: Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition, Fire, Ecological Succession, Flood and Drought, Landslides and Erosion, Invasive Plants, Non-native Animals, and Pathogens and Disease.  Viability Summaries can be downloaded individually under Managing for Biodiversity or all of them are in Chapter 9 of the report.

A new project, the Terrestrial Biodiversity Climate Change Collaborative (TBC3), is comprised of scientists taking a closer look at potential impacts to biodiversity.  This group will be making recommendations to improve the CLN's resilience to climate change impacts.

Contact Ryan Branciforte at ryan@openspacecouncil.org for information about this work.

For more information about climate change from one of our partners, visit Bay Area Ecosystems Climate Change Consortium (BAECCC).  

Photos: Dad and Daughter by Annie Burke.  Birds in flight by Stuart Weiss.