HR: 16:00h
AN: B34A-01 INVITED    [Abstracts]
TI: Adapting to Climate Change: Reconsidering the Role of Protected Areas and Protected Organisms in Western North America
AU: * Graumlich, L J
EM: lisag@cals.arizona.edu
AF: School of Natural Resources, The University of Arizona, 325 Bioscience East, Tucson, AZ 85721, United States
AU: Cross, M S
EM: mcross@wcs.org
AF: Wildlife Conservation Society, 2023 Stadium Drive, Suite 1A, Bozeman, MT 59715, United States
AU: Hilty, J
EM: jhilty@wcs.org
AF: Wildlife Conservation Society, 2023 Stadium Drive, Suite 1A, Bozeman, MT 59715, United States
AU: Berger, J
EM: jberger@wcs.org
AF: Wildlife Conservation Society, PO Box 340, Moose, WY 83012, United States
AB: With the recent publication of the 2007 Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), little doubt remains among scientists that the global climate system is changing due to human influence and that climate change will have far-reaching and fundamental impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity. Arguably the best-documented evidence linking 20th Century warming trends to changes in physical and biological systems comes from the mountains of western North America (e.g., Figure SPM1 in Summary of Working Group 11 Report). In the West, ecosystem impacts include changes in the distribution of species as well as changing functional linkages between species such as the synchrony between flower emergence and pollinating insects. These climate impacts, when combined with other environmental stressors (e.g., altered disturbance regimes, land-use change and habitat fragmentation) portend an amplification of species extinction rates. One of the great challenges in adapting to climate change is developing and implementing policies that enhance ecological resilience in the face of these change. Clearly, the current system of nature reserves in Western North America is a fundamental asset for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services. However, the fixed- boundary nature of these protected areas presents a problem as species' ranges shift with future climate change. The loss of species whose ranges move outside of fixed park boundaries and the arrival of other species that move into protected areas could lead to significant turnover of species diversity, new species assemblages, and altered functionality. In short, reserves that were designed to protect particular species or communities may no longer serve their intended purpose under a changing climate. In this talk, we use case studies from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the Sonoran Desert Ecosystem to define strategies for enhancing ecological resilience to climate change at regional scales, taking into account the need for creating ecological connectivity between protected areas. We are particularly interested in defining opportunities in which traditional "working landscapes", such as large ranches in western North America, play a functional role in enhancing connectivity in the near-term as well as into the future. Based on our own work and that of others, we define the scientific roadmap for identifying and selecting corridors that are robust to climate change and other stressors and that are politically and socially viable as an adaptation strategy.
DE: 0400 BIOGEOSCIENCES
DE: 0439 Ecosystems, structure and dynamics (4815)
DE: 1600 GLOBAL CHANGE
DE: 1630 Impacts of global change (1225)
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting