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Combining physical and species-based approaches improves refugia identification
Climate-change refugia – locations likely to facilitate species persistence under climate change – are increasingly important components of conservation planning. Recent approaches for identifying refugia at broad scales include identifying regions that are projected to experience less severe change...
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Published in: | Frontiers in ecology and the environment 2020-06, Vol.18 (5), p.254-260 |
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Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Citations: | Items that this one cites Items that cite this one |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | Climate-change refugia – locations likely to facilitate species persistence under climate change – are increasingly important components of conservation planning. Recent approaches for identifying refugia at broad scales include identifying regions that are projected to experience less severe changes (climatic exposure), that contain a diversity of physical and topographic features (environmental diversity), and that either retain or remain close to suitable climatic conditions (climate tracking, including both “species-neutral” and species-based approaches). We compared the degree of agreement between these approaches – with respect to their spatial coverage and other characteristics – across much of North America. This analysis found that approaches based on environmental diversity and species-neutral climatic gradients both favored topographically complex regions, whereas climatic exposure and species-based approaches identified regions with a range of topographic characteristics. Species-based approaches targeting specific habitat groups identified unique regions missed by other approaches, emphasizing the importance of asking the question “refugia for what?” when prioritizing refugia. Our results highlight the necessity of including climatic exposure and species-based information in addition to topographic diversity and climatic gradients in refugia analyses. |
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ISSN: | 1540-9295 1540-9309 |
DOI: | 10.1002/fee.2207 |