Climate change is already having profound effects on biodiversity, but climate change adaptation has yet to be fully incorporated into area-based management tools used to conserve biodiversity, such as protected areas. One main obstacle is the lack of consensus regarding how impacts of climate change can be included in spatial conservation plans. We propose a climate-smart framework that prioritizes the protection of climate refugia-areas of low climate exposure and high biodiversity retention-using climate metrics. We explore four aspects of climate-smart conservation planning: i) climate model ensembles; ii) multiple emission scenarios; iii) climate metrics; and iv) approaches to identifying climate refugia. We illustrate this framework in the Western Pacific Ocean, but it is equally applicable to terrestrial systems. We found that all aspects of climate-smart conservation planning considered affected the configuration of spatial plans. The choice of climate metrics and approaches to identifying refugia have large effects in the resulting climate-smart spatial plans, whereas the choice of climate models and emission scenarios have smaller effects. As the configuration of spatial plans depended on climate metrics used, a spatial plan based on a single measure of climate change (e.g., warming) will not necessarily be robust against other measures of climate change (e.g., ocean acidification). We therefore recommend using climate metrics most relevant for the biodiversity and region considered based on a single or multiple climate drivers. To include the uncertainty associated with different climate futures, we recommend using multiple climate models (i.e., an ensemble) and emission scenarios. Finally, we show that the approaches we used to identify climate refugia feature trade-offs between: i) the degree to which they are climate-smart; and ii) their efficiency in meeting conservation targets. Hence, the choice of approach will depend on the relative value that stakeholders place on climate adaptation. By using this framework, protected areas can be designed with improved longevity and thus safeguard biodiversity against current and future climate change. We hope that the proposed climate-smart framework helps transition conservation planning towards climate-smart approaches.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/eap.2852

A metric-based framework for climate-smart conservation planning.

Urban parks provide amenities that support both human and animal communities. However, parks are often unevenly distributed within cities. One metric used to assess the distribution of parks to the public is termed the Park Score. The Park Score is an approach to measure access, acreage, investment, and amenities, and is designed to understand a city’s needs for greenspace, with a major focus on public health. In addition to issues related to public health, a disparity in the distribution of urban parks may pose a barrier for wildlife, such as birds. Yet, this remains unclear. We designed a study to quantify the role of parks in providing a refuge for birds across a park-needs gradient in Greater Los Angeles (LA), a metropolis with one of the lowest park scores in the United States. We had two objectives to address our goal. First, we quantified patterns in habitat features and avian communities within and adjacent to parks. Second, we analyzed relationships among habitat features within and adjacent to parks on avian abundance. We sampled birds and habitat features at 48 parks across a park-needs gradient in L.A. from October to March of 2017/2018 and 2018/2019. We found three lines of evidence supporting the refugia effect of parks. First, habitat features within parks were similar between low- and high-needs areas of LA, and this likely influenced avian abundance patterns, which were also alike. Second, avian communities were generally similar across the park-needs gradient, where parks in high-needs areas harbored birds affiliated with forest and shrub ecosystems. Third, bird abundance patterns were related to numerous habitat features within parks, regardless of where parks occurred in the city. The patterns we uncovered were opposite to what is found in residential areas (i.e., luxury effect), suggesting that parks provide important habitat for birds, whether in high- or low-needs sections of LA. Our results stress the role of parks as refugia in park-poor areas because they provide habitat in otherwise inhospitable urban conditions. Continued investment in park development in high-needs areas can thus potentially be a win-win when considering the benefits to people and birds.

/pdf/urban-parks-are-a-refuge-for-birds-in-park-poor-areas-m54y2klw.pdf

Urban parks are a refuge for birds in park-poor areas

From a conservation perspective, quantifying potential refugial capacity has been predominantly focused on climate refugia, which is critical for maintaining the persistence of species and ecosystems. However, protection from other stressors, such as human-induced changes in fire and hydrology, that cause habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation is also necessary to ensure that conservation efforts focused on climate are not undermined by other threats. Thus, conceptual and methodological advances for quantifying potential refugia from multiple anthropogenic stressors are important to support conservation efforts. We devised a new conceptual approach, the domains of refugia, for assessing refugial capacity that identifies areas where exposure to multiple stressors is low. In our framework, patterns of environmental variability (e.g., increased frequency of warm summers), thresholds of resilience, and extent and intensity of stressors are used to identify areas of potential refugia from a suite of ongoing anthropogenic stressors (e.g., changes in fire regime). To demonstrate its utility, we applied the framework to a Southern California landscape. Sites with high refugial capacity (super-refugia sites) had on average 30% fewer extremely warm summers, 20% fewer fire events, 10% less exposure to altered river channels and riparian areas, and 50% fewer recreational trails than the surrounding landscape. Our results suggest that super-refugia sites (∼8200 km2 ) for some natural communities are underrepresented in the existing protected area network, a finding that can inform efforts to expand protected areas. Our case study highlights how considering exposure to multiple stressors can inform planning and practice to conserve biodiversity in a changing world.

A landscape-scale framework to identify refugia from multiple stressors.

Species can survive periods of unfavorable conditions in small areas that are protected from climate-related disturbances, such as increasing temperature and severe drought. These areas are known as “microrefugia” and are increasingly recognized by conservationists. Although some studies suggest that the in situ survival of invertebrate species may be mediated by topographically complex environments, there is little information about the main environmental factors that drive species distributions within such areas. Here, we investigate the spatial patterns and species trait composition (moisture preference, body size, dispersal capacity, and feeding habit) of five groups of ground-dwelling arthropods—spiders, woodlice, ants, ground beetles, and rove beetles—in topographic depressions (i.e., “solution dolines” or “solution sinkholes”) and on the surrounding plateau within a forested karst landscape and analyze the microhabitat conditions that affect these arthropod assemblages. We found that dolines have the capacity to maintain characteristic arthropod assemblages—including species that may be particularly vulnerable to climate change (e.g., species associated with moist habitats)—and thus, they may contribute to the landscape-scale biodiversity of karst landscapes. We also found that doline bottoms have the potential to maintain permanently moist conditions not only in spring and autumn but also during drier periods of the year. This ability of dolines may indicate the presence of potential hydrologic microrefugia. Furthermore, dolines displayed specific sets of species traits (e.g., more small-bodied spiders, more carnivorous ground beetles, and more rove beetles with high dispersal capacity occurred in dolines than on the plateau), highlighting that they may facilitate the persistence of some species and traits that are purged from the surrounding landscape. Future studies may reveal the long-term ecological consequences of different climatic and anthropogenic factors on the distribution and functional traits of arthropod taxa within microrefugia and on the refugial capacity of these safe havens under a warming climate.

Topographic depressions provide potential microrefugia for ground-dwelling arthropods

HighlightsClimate-change refugia can support biodiversity by maintaining buffered conditions despite climate change and are a critical tool for the unfolding extinction crisis.Despite their capacity to protect biodiversity, climate-change refugia will be increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of multiple interacting stressors and may hence require management.Effective protection of biodiversity under climate change can be facilitated by managing or newly establishing climate-change refugia on the basis of multiple factors and processes that create them.Using four clear steps, appropriate actions to maintain climate-change refugia, ranging from minimal management to more extensive restoration efforts, can be determined.Identifying and managing climate-change refugia can reduce extinctions and contribute to landscapes that are holistically managed for biodiversity conservation under climate change.AbstractEarth is facing simultaneous biodiversity and climate crises. Climate-change refugia – areas that are relatively buffered from climate change – can help address both of these problems by maintaining biodiversity components when the surrounding landscape no longer can. However, this capacity to support biodiversity is often vulnerable to severe climate change and other stressors. Thus, management actions need to consider the complex and multidimensional nature of refugia. We outline an approach to understand refugia-promoting processes and to evaluate refugial capacity to determine suitable management actions. Our framework applies climate-change refugia as tools to facilitate resistance in modern conservation planning. Such refugia-focused management can reduce extinctions and maintain biodiversity under climate change. 

Managing climate-change refugia to prevent extinctions

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A landscape-scale framework to identify refugia from multiple stressors.