Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Managing biodiversity under climate change: challenges, frameworks, and tools for adaptation

  • Review Paper
  • Published:
Biodiversity and Conservation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The myriad challenges facing biodiversity under climate change are reflected in the challenges facing managers planning for these impacts. An ever-expanding number of recommendations and tools for climate change adaptation exist to aid managers in these efforts, yet navigating these various resources can lead to information overload and paralysis in decision-making. Here we provide a synthesis of the key considerations, approaches, and available tools for integrating climate change adaptation into management plans. We discuss principal elements in climate change adaptation—incorporating uncertainty through scenario planning and adaptive management—and review three leading frameworks for incorporating climate change adaptation into place-based biodiversity conservation planning. Finally, we identify the following key questions needed for long-term conservation planning and review the associated tools and techniques needed to address them: (1) How is the climate projected to change in my study area?; (2) How are non-climatic stressors projected to change?; (3) How vulnerable are species to climate change impacts?; (4) How are species ranges likely to respond?; and (5) How are management strategies expected to affect outcomes? In doing so, we aim to aid natural resource managers in navigating the burgeoning field of climate change adaptation planning and provide managers a roadmap for managing biodiversity under climate change.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Reference

Download references

Acknowledgements

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (Grant No. DGE1106400 to BA) and the California Landscape Conservation Cooperative.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Briana Abrahms.

Additional information

Communicated by Anurag chaurasia.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 1236 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Abrahms, B., DiPietro, D., Graffis, A. et al. Managing biodiversity under climate change: challenges, frameworks, and tools for adaptation. Biodivers Conserv 26, 2277–2293 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-017-1362-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-017-1362-4

Keywords

Navigation