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Climate Change Vulnerability New Species Assessments
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Vulnerability
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Climate Change Vulnerability New Habitat Assessments
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Research also assessed the climate change vulnerability of three habitats characteristic of the Appalachian LCC region: the South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian Habitat; Central Interior Highlands Calcareous Glade and Barrens; and Southern Interior Low Plateau Dry Mesic Oak Forest.
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Vulnerability
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Climate Change Vulnerability
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New climate change vulnerability assessments for 41 species and 3 habitats in the Appalachians are now available. The conservation community can view and search each of these assessments by vulnerability scores, conservation status ranks, state and subregion of assessment, and higher taxonomy. In addition, principle investigators NatureServe compiled the results of 700 species assessments previously completed by other researchers as well as assessments on several habitats.
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Vulnerability
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Climate Change's Growing Threat to Public Lands
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Secretary Jewell attended the 2014 World Parks Congress in Australia, where she stressed the need for international cooperation on public lands and the growing threat of climate change.
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Training
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Videos and Webinars
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Climate Change, Aboveground-Belowground Interactions, and Species’ Range Shifts
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Changes in climate, land use, fire incidence, and ecological connections all may contribute to current species’ range shifts. Species shift range individually, and not all species shift range at the same time and rate. This variation causes community reorganization in both the old and new ranges. In terrestrial ecosystems, range shifts alter aboveground-belowground interactions, influencing species abundance, community composition, ecosystem processes and services, and feedbacks within communities and ecosystems. Thus, range shifts may result in no-analog communities where foundation species and community genetics play unprecedented roles, possibly leading to novel ecosystems. Long-distance dispersal can enhance the disruption of aboveground-belowground interactions of plants, herbivores, pathogens, symbiotic mutualists, and decomposer organisms. These effects are most likely stronger for latitudinal than for altitudinal range shifts. Disrupted aboveground-belowground interactions may have influenced historical postglacial range shifts as well. Assisted migration without considering aboveground-belowground interactions could enhance risks of such range shift–induced invasions.
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Resources
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Climate Science Documents
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Climate change, income and happiness: An empirical study for Barcelona
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The present article builds upon the results of an empirical study exploring key factors which determine life satisfaction in Barcelona. Based on a sample of 840 individuals we first look at the way changes in income, notably income reductions, associated with the current economic situation in Spain, affect subjective well-being. Income decreases which occur with respect to one year ago have a negative effect on happiness when specified in logarithmic terms, and a positive one when specified as a dummy variable (and percentage change). The divergence in results is discussed and various explanations are put forward. Both effects are however temporary and do not hold for a period longer than a year, probably for reasons of adaptation and a downward adjustment of reference consumption and income levels. Next, we examine the implications of experiencing forest fires and find a lasting negative effect on life satisfaction. Our results suggest that climate policy need not reduce happiness in the long run, even when it reduces income and carbon-intensive consumption. Climate policy may even raise life well- being, if accompanied by compensatory measures that decrease formal working hours and reference consumption standards, while maintaining employment security.
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Resources
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Climate Science Documents
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Climate Change, Wildlife, and Wildlands Toolkit
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The new Climate Change, Wildlife and Wildlands Toolkit for Formal and Informal Educators is an updated and expanded version of the award-winning (2001 Public Relations Society of America Bronze Anvil Award for Interactive Communications and 2002 Telly Award) and very popular (over 40,000 kits distributed in all 50 states and the U.S. territories and over a dozen countries across the world) Climate Change, Wildlife and Wildlands Toolkit for Teachers and Interpreters first published in 2001.
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Resources
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General Resources Holdings
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Climate change-associated tree mortality increases without decreasing water availability
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Here, we reveal temporally increasing tree mortality across all study species over the last three decades in the central boreal forests of Canada, where long-term water availability has increased without apparent climate change-associated drought. Our results suggest that the consequences of climate change on tree mortality are more profound than previously thought.
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Resources
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Climate Science Documents
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Climate Change: Future Federal Adaptation Efforts Could Better Support Local Infrastructure Decision Makers
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The federal government invests billions of dollars annually in infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, facing increasing risks from climate change. Adaptation—defined as adjustments to natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climate change— can help manage these risks by making infrastructure more resilient. GAO was asked to examine issues related to infrastructure decision making and climate change. This report examines (1) the impacts of climate change on roads and bridges, wastewater systems, and NASA centers; (2) the extent to which climate change is incorporated into infrastructure planning; (3) factors that enabled some decision makers to implement adaptive measures; and (4) federal efforts to address local adaptation needs, as well as potential opportunities for improvement. GAO reviewed climate change assessments; analyzed relevant reports; interviewed stakeholders from professional associations and federal agencies; and visited infrastructure projects and interviewed local decision makers at seven sites where adaptive measures have been implemented.
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Resources
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General Resources Holdings
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Climate commitment in an uncertain world
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Climate commitment—the warming that would still occur given no further human influence—is a fundamental metric for both science and policy. It informs us of the minimum climate change we face and, moreover, depends only on our knowledge of the natural climate system. Studies of the climate commitment due to CO2 find that global temperature would remain near current levels, or even decrease slightly, in the millennium following the cessation of emissions. However, this result overlooks the important role of the non‐CO2 greenhouse gases and aerosols. This paper shows that global energetics require an immediate and sig- nificant warming following the cessation of emissions as aerosols are quickly washed from the atmosphere, and the large uncertainty in current aerosol radiative forcing implies a large uncertainty in the climate commitment. Fundamental constraints preclude Earth returning to pre‐industrial temperatures for the indefinite future. These same constraints mean that observations are currently unable to eliminate the possibility that we are already beyond the point where the ultimate warming will exceed dangerous levels. Models produce a narrower range of climate commitment, but under- sample observed forcing constraints.
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Resources
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Climate Science Documents
