Resilient Sites for Terrestrial Conservation in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Region

Climate change is expected to alter species distributions. As species move to adjust to changing conditions, conservationists urgently require a way to prioritize strategic land conservation that will conserve the maximum amount of biological diversity despite shifting distribution patterns (IPCC 2007). 

Current conservation approaches based on species locations or on predicted species’ responses to climate, are necessary, but hampered by uncertainty. Here we offer a complementary approach, one that aims to identify key areas for conservation based on land characteristics that increase diversity and resilience. 

The central idea of this project is that by mapping key geophysical settings and evaluating them for landscape characteristics that buffer against climate effects, we can identify the most resilient places in the landscape. Ideally, these places will conserve the full spectrum of physical arenas that create and support species diversity. Additionally, each individual place will offer a range of microclimates and options for species movement, thus maintaining landscape functionality and improving the chances of species’ survival in a changing climate. 

The approach is based on observations that species diversity is highly correlated with geophysical diversity in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic (Anderson and Ferree 2010), that species take advantage of the micro-climates available in complex landscapes, and that species can move to adjust to climatic changes if the area is permeable. Thus, the characteristics of geophysical representation, landscape complexity and landscape permeability, are primary concepts in this research. 

In this approach the aim is to identify the most resilient examples of key geophysical settings (sand plains, granite mountains, limestone valleys, for example) in relation to habitats for species of greatest conservation need, to provide conservationists with a nuanced picture of the places where conservation is most likely to succeed. 

 

Report

 

Resilient Sites for Terrestrial Conservation in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Region. Anderson, M.G., M. Clark, and A. Olivero Sheldon. 2012.  The Nature Conservancy, Eastern Conservation Science. 168 pp.   Download here

 

Large Format Maps

http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/ecs/documents/resilient-sites-for-terrestrial-conservation-0

 

Published Paper

 

Conserving the Stage: Climate Change and the Geophysical Underpinnings of Species Diversity, Mark G. Anderson & Charles E. Ferree.  http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0011554

 

 

Presentations