Characteristics of climate change refugia for Australian biodiversity

Identifying refugia is a critical component of effective conservation of biodiversity under anthropogenic climate change. However, despite a surge in conceptual and practical interest, identifying refugia remains a significant challenge across diverse continental landscapes. We provide an overview o...

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Main Authors: Reside, A., Welbergen, J., Phillips, B., Wardell-Johnson, Grant, Keppel, Gunnar, Ferrier, S., Williams, S., Vanderwal, J.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Blackwell Publishing Asia 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aec.12146/pdf
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19500
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author Reside, A.
Welbergen, J.
Phillips, B.
Wardell-Johnson, Grant
Keppel, Gunnar
Ferrier, S.
Williams, S.
Vanderwal, J.
author_facet Reside, A.
Welbergen, J.
Phillips, B.
Wardell-Johnson, Grant
Keppel, Gunnar
Ferrier, S.
Williams, S.
Vanderwal, J.
author_sort Reside, A.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Identifying refugia is a critical component of effective conservation of biodiversity under anthropogenic climate change. However, despite a surge in conceptual and practical interest, identifying refugia remains a significant challenge across diverse continental landscapes. We provide an overview of the key properties of refugia that promote species' persistence under climate change, including their capacity to (i) buffer species from climate change; (ii) sustain long-term population viability and evolutionary processes; (iii) minimize the potential for deleterious species interactions, provided that the refugia are (iv) available and accessible to species under threat. Further, we classify refugia in terms of the environmental and biotic stressors that they provide protection from (i.e. thermal, hydric, cyclonic, pyric and biotic refugia), but ideally refugia should provide protection from a multitude of stressors. Our systematic characterization of refugia facilitates the identification of refugia in the Australian landscape. Challenges remain, however, specifically with respect to how to assess the quality of refugia at the level of individual species and whole species assemblages. It is essential that these challenges are overcome before refugia can live up to their acclaim as useful targets for conservation and management in the context of climate change.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-195002019-02-19T04:26:19Z Characteristics of climate change refugia for Australian biodiversity Reside, A. Welbergen, J. Phillips, B. Wardell-Johnson, Grant Keppel, Gunnar Ferrier, S. Williams, S. Vanderwal, J. terrestrial biodiversity synergies conservation refugia climate change Identifying refugia is a critical component of effective conservation of biodiversity under anthropogenic climate change. However, despite a surge in conceptual and practical interest, identifying refugia remains a significant challenge across diverse continental landscapes. We provide an overview of the key properties of refugia that promote species' persistence under climate change, including their capacity to (i) buffer species from climate change; (ii) sustain long-term population viability and evolutionary processes; (iii) minimize the potential for deleterious species interactions, provided that the refugia are (iv) available and accessible to species under threat. Further, we classify refugia in terms of the environmental and biotic stressors that they provide protection from (i.e. thermal, hydric, cyclonic, pyric and biotic refugia), but ideally refugia should provide protection from a multitude of stressors. Our systematic characterization of refugia facilitates the identification of refugia in the Australian landscape. Challenges remain, however, specifically with respect to how to assess the quality of refugia at the level of individual species and whole species assemblages. It is essential that these challenges are overcome before refugia can live up to their acclaim as useful targets for conservation and management in the context of climate change. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19500 10.1111/aec.12146 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aec.12146/pdf Blackwell Publishing Asia restricted
spellingShingle terrestrial biodiversity
synergies
conservation
refugia
climate change
Reside, A.
Welbergen, J.
Phillips, B.
Wardell-Johnson, Grant
Keppel, Gunnar
Ferrier, S.
Williams, S.
Vanderwal, J.
Characteristics of climate change refugia for Australian biodiversity
title Characteristics of climate change refugia for Australian biodiversity
title_full Characteristics of climate change refugia for Australian biodiversity
title_fullStr Characteristics of climate change refugia for Australian biodiversity
title_full_unstemmed Characteristics of climate change refugia for Australian biodiversity
title_short Characteristics of climate change refugia for Australian biodiversity
title_sort characteristics of climate change refugia for australian biodiversity
topic terrestrial biodiversity
synergies
conservation
refugia
climate change
url http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aec.12146/pdf
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19500