Biodiversity in a Changing Climate Linking Science and Management in Conservation

About this book

A major consequence of climate change can be abrupt, dramatic changes in regional biodiversity. Even under the most optimistic scenarios for mitigating climate change, the fate of many wild species rests on the shoulders of those engaged in conservation planning, management, and policy. Thus, it's critical that resource managers have access to the latest developments in climate change research in a way that's useful to them, but is often challenging given the "science-management divide."

Biodiversity in a Changing Climate addresses this chasm by establishing a framework to promote dialog among scientists, decision makers and managers who are grappling with the increasing threats to species and ecosystems in a rapidly changing climate. The book includes case studies and best practices used to address impacts related to climate change across a broad spectrum of species and habitats – from coastal krill and sea urchins to prairie grass and mountain bumblebees. While focused on California, the issues and strategies presented throughout Biodiversity in a Changing Climate will translate to regions across the West and farther, and is meant to be a framework for how scientists and managers in any region can bridge the communication divide in the interest of managing biodiversity in a rapidly changing world.

Biodiversity in a Changing Climate will prove an indispensable guide to students, scientists, and professionals engaged in conservation and resource management.

Contents

Preface

1. A new era for ecologists: Incorporating climate change into natural resource management

Part I. Key changes in climate and life
2. Climate change from the globe to California
3. Climatic influences on ecosystems

Part II. Learning from case studies and dialogues between scientists and resource managers
4. Modeling krill in the California current: A 2005 case study
5. Shifts in marine biogeographic ranges
6. Integrating global climate change and conservation: a Klamath River case study
7. Pollinators and meadow restoration
8. Elevational shifts in breeding birds in the southern California desert region
9. Conserving California grasslands into an uncertain future
10. Species invasions: Linking changes in plant composition to changes in climate

Part III. Perspectives for framing biological impacts of rapid climate change
11. Evolutionary conservation under climate change
12. Fossils predict biological responses to future climate change
13. Historical data on species occurrence: bridging the past to the future

Glossary
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Terry L. Root is a Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment, and Professor, by courtesy, in the Department of Biology at Stanford University. She studies climate change impacts on wild animals and plants, with a current focus on mass extinction as a result of global warming. She was lead author on the third (2001) and fourth (2007) assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) and a Review Editor for the Fifth (2014) Assessment Report. In 2007, she shared the Nobel Peace Prize with other IPCC participants, and with Al Gore.

Kimberly R. Hall is adjunct professor jointly in the Dept. of Forestry and Dept. of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University. She is also the recent-past Climate Change Ecologist for The Nature Conservancy.

Mark Herzog is a quantitative ecologist and wildlife biologist for the USGS Western Ecological Center. He is the former co-­Director of the Informatics Division at PRBO Conservation Science.

Christine A. Howell is Senior Conservation Scientist for Point Blue (formerly the Point Reyes Biological Observatory).