Conservation of Climate Change Refugia

Project Leader:

Toni Lyn Morelli

Project Investigators:

Jennifer Cartwright, U.S. Geological Survey

Rebecca Quinones, MassWildlife

Evan Grant, U.S. Geological Survey

Aaron Ramirez, Reed College

Partners:

Federal agencies

US Fish and Wildlife Service

National Park Service

USDA Forest Service

US Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station

Research community

Missouri State University

University of California Berkeley

University of Montana

University of Washington

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States:

Maine

New Hampshire

Vermont

Massachusetts

Rhode Island

Connecticut

New York

Pennsylvania

New Jersey

Delaware

Maryland

Virginia

West Virginia

Ohio

Kentucky

Indiana

Michigan

Wisconsin

Illinois

Minnesota

Iowa

Missouri

North Dakota

South Dakota

Nebraska

Kansas

Oklahoma

Arkansas

Tennessee

North Carolina

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Status:

Ongoing

Overview

The field of climate adaptation is still getting established, and guidelines and examples for how to manage for climate change on-the-ground are still rare. The concept of climate change refugia, areas buffered from climate change that enable persistence of valued resources, is being discussed as a potential adaptation option in the face of anthropogenic climate change. This project seeks to provide practical guidance for how to operationalize this concept and to work with stakeholders to help prioritize actions to conserve climate change refugia. In addition, I use the tools of ecological and climate modeling and historical field data to test predictions of climate change refugia in the Sierra Nevada of California.

Many resource managers and conservation organizations are looking to help their ecosystems, habitats and species adapt to climate change. Climate change refugia can allow species to persist in the face of warming and changing precipitation regimes. Managers are eager to learn how to implement these ideas. Preliminary results of mapped meadow refugia and connectivity in the Sierra Nevada match with wildlife population persistence and genetic diversity data.

Tools and Products

Climate Change Refugia Research

A website built to identify the most important resource management priorities related to refugia in the Northwest and Northeast, summarize and synthesize the available refugia research and research products and identify future research priorities and products and help resource managers incorporate refugia concepts into their management plans.

Climate Change Refugia Research Climate Change Refugia Research

Publications

Balantic, C., Adams, A., Gross, S., Mazur, R., Sawyer, S., Tucker, J., et al. (2021). Toward climate change refugia conservation at an ecoregion scale. Conservation Science And Practice, 3(9). http://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.497

Barrows, C. W., Ramirez, A. R., Sweet, L., Morelli, T. L., Millar, C. I., Frakes, N., et al. (2020). Validating climate‐change refugia: empirical bottom‐up approaches to support management actions. Frontiers In Ecology And The Environment, 18(5), 298-306. http://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2205

Morelli, T. L., Barrows, C., Ramirez, A., Cartwright, J., Ackerly, D., Eaves, T., et al. (2020). Climate‐change refugia: biodiversity in the slow lane. Frontiers In Ecology And The Environment, 18(5), 228-234. http://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2189

Sirén, A. P. K., & Morelli, T. L. (2020). Interactive range-limit theory (iRLT): An~extension for predicting range shifts. Journal Of Animal Ecology, 89, 940-954. http://doi.org/10.1111/jane.v89.410.1111/1365-2656.13150 (Original work published Jan-04-2020)

Stralberg, D., Arseneault, D., Baltzer, J. L., Barber, Q. E., Bayne, E. M., Boulanger, Y., et al. (2020). Climate‐change refugia in boreal North America: what, where, and for how long?. Frontiers In Ecology And The Environment, 18(5), 261-270. http://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2188

Maher, S. P., Morelli, T. L., Hershey, M., Flint, A. L., Flint, L. E., Moritz, C., & Beissinger, S. R. (2017). Erosion of refugia in the Sierra Nevada meadows network with climate change. Ecosphere, 8, e01673. http://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.1673 (Original work published Jan-04-2017)

Morelli, T. L., Maher, S. P., Lim, M. C. W., Kastely, C., Eastman, L. M., Flint, L. E., et al. (2017). Climate change refugia and habitat connectivity promote species persistence. Climate Change Responses, 4. http://doi.org/10.1186/s40665-017-0036-5 (Original work published Jan-12-2017)

Morelli, T. L., Daly, C., Dobrowski, S. Z., Dulen, D. M., Ebersole, J. L., Jackson, S. T., et al. (2016). Managing Climate Change Refugia for Climate Adaptation. Plos One, 11, e0159909. http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159909 (Original work published Aug-10-2016)

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Presentations

Morelli, T.L., "Innovative Approaches for Identifying and Managing Climate-change Refugia", North American Conference for Conservation Biology (NACCB) Zoom, July 30, 2020;

Morelli, T.L., "Climate Change Refugia: Biodiversity Change in the Slow Lane", NACCB. Zoom, July 30, 2020

Morelli, T.L., The Wildlife Society Conference Annual Meeting. Oct 2, 2019

Morelli, T.L., Climate change refugia for the conservation of fish and wildlife workshop," Incorporating Climate Change Refugia Into Climate Adaptation in the Acadia National Park Region" Acadia National Park. July 22, 2019.

Morelli, T.L., Refugia Research Coalition special issue planning workshop. October 16-19 2018.

Morelli, T.L., Stony Brook University Department of Ecology and Evolution Seminar. March 3, 2018.

Morelli, T.L., "Climate Change Refugia Conservation Cycle", Boreal refugia meeting in Edmonton, Canada, presentation. Feb 28-29, 2018.

Morelli, T.L., "Translational Ecology: Doing Science that Matters", Indiana University seminar presentation. Feb 22, 2018.

Morelli, T.L., "A regional-scale approach for connecting refugia science to natural & cultural resource management", Ecological Society of America, Portland, OR. August 2017.

Morelli, T.L., "Climate Project Screening Tool" US Forest Service Region 5 Invited Webinar, Feb 15, 2017.

Morelli, T.L., "Managing Climate Change Refugia for Biodiversity Conservation", NAF, St Paul, MN. May 2017.

Morelli, T.L., "Conserving Climate Change Refugia as a Climate Adaptation Strategy" George Wright Symposium presentation, Norfolk VA. April 6, 2017.

Morelli, T.L., “Conserving Climate Change Refugia as a Climate Adaptation Strategy”, by request from the National Park Service, at the George Wright Symposium in Norfolk, VA. April 2017.

Morelli, T.L., Climate change refugia work, Annual meeting of the NEAFWA SWAP leaders, Hadley, MA, March 2017. Great interest from states as well as the North Atlantic LCC.

Morelli, T.L., "The Northeast Climate Science Center: Improving the Way Climate Science Informs Resource Management" 76th Annual Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference, Lincoln NE. Feb 7, 2017.

Morelli, T.L., "Climate-Influenced Species Range Shifts: Where Are We Headed?" Organized session at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco. Dec 2016.

Morelli, T.L., "Co-production of knowledge: managers and scientists working together for effective conservation in the face of climate change", Organized session for the Natural Areas Conference, Davis, CA. October 2016.

Morelli, T.L., "Managing Climate Change Refugia for Biodiversity Conservation" workshop at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature World Conservation Congress in Honolulu, Hawaii. July 2016.

Morelli, T.L., Presentation and organized session on climate change refugia, AGU December 2015

Morelli, T.L., ESA, Baltimore. August 2015.

Morelli, T.L., "How to Prioritize Key Areas for Conservation Efforts in a Changing Climate: A Look at “Climate Refugia” NCCWSC Seminar, December 8, 2015.

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