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Global Change Biology

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Edited by: Steve Long
Print ISSN: 1354-1013 Online ISSN: 1365-2486
Impact Factor: 8.997

August 18, 2014

World’s Vegetated Areas Face Threats from Climate Change

Vulnerability to biome shifts due to climate change at the 4.8 9 4.8 km and 48 9 48 km spatial scales, as mediated by habitat intactness, with intact habitat defined as all natural vegetated GlobCover land classes with ≥50% of the area in protected areas (wpa). Areas shown in white are those without vegetation (bare ground, snow, and ice).

 

Researchers who analyzed the vulnerability of ecosystems to climate change have found that between 10 and 28% of the world’s terrestrial vegetated area can be considered refugia, depending on whether or not wilderness areas are considered.  Refugia are areas of biological diversity where natural environmental conditions remain relatively constant during times of great environmental change.

The investigators noted that in regions where relatively large, intact wilderness areas remain (e.g. Africa, Australia, boreal regions, South America), conservation of the remaining large-scale refugia is the priority. In human-dominated landscapes, (e.g. most of Europe, much of North America and Southeast Asia), focusing on finer scale refugia is a priority because large-scale wilderness refugia simply no longer exist.

“Our research will help governments to better understand where to invest resources to safeguard wild plants and animals in the face of the combined threats of habitat destruction and climate change” said Dr. Felix Eigenbrod, lead author of the Global Change Biology article.