What's hot in conservation biogeography in a changing climate? Going beyond species range dynamics

Serra‐Diaz, Josep M.; Franklin, Janet

doi:10.1111/ddi.12917

Cited by 17 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 97 publications

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“…Many studies have predicted species’ responses to changes in particular climate variables, based on their life‐history characteristics, without being able to test whether the predictions are accurate because the predicted climatic changes have not yet occurred in real landscapes (e.g. Robson et al, 2011; Serra‐Diaz & Franklin, 2019; Urban et al, 2016). Some studies have used life histories to predict population responses (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life‐history traits are poor predictors of species responses to flow regime change in headwater streams

Carey

Chester

Robson

2021

Global Change Biology

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Recent climate change is altering the timing, duration and volume of river and stream flows globally, and in many regions, perennially flowing rivers and streams are drying and switching to intermittent flows. Profound impacts on aquatic biota are becoming apparent, due in part to the strong influence of flow regime on the evolution of life history. We made predictions of life‐history responses for 13 common aquatic invertebrate species (four caddisflies, five mayflies, two stoneflies, a dragonfly and an amphipod), to recent flow regime change in Australian mediterranean climate streams, based on historic studies in the same streams. Size distributions, phenology, voltinism and synchrony were compared, revealing five main responses. More than half of the species were restricted to perennially flowing streams and were absent from those that had switched to intermittent flows (including all four caddisfly species). These formerly common species are at risk of extinction as climate change progresses. Two mayfly species had divergent responses in voltinism and synchrony, and one relied on drought micro‐refuges to persist. One stonefly species changed development timing to suit the new flow regime, and the amphipod species retreated to subterranean refuges. Two formerly common species were not detected at all during 2016–2017. In addition, a new mayfly species and a caddisfly species proliferated under new flow regimes, because they had life histories suited to brief hydroperiods. Importantly, previous life history rarely predicted species’ actual responses to climate‐driven flow regime change, raising doubts about the veracity of predictions based on species traits. This is because a species’ potential for flexible phenology or growth rate is not necessarily indicated by life‐history traits.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life‐history traits are poor predictors of species responses to flow regime change in headwater streams

Carey

Chester

Robson

2021

Global Change Biology

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“…This may mean transformation, such as from forest to shrublands, as well as species substitution within the current dominant ecosystem (e.g. Serra‐Diaz & Franklin, 2019). Some species are well‐adapted to take that opportunity, such as fire‐specialist species like Pinus contorta, whose distribution is moving north with successive fire events (Johnstone & Chapin, 2003).…”

Section: When Do Disturbances Create Opportunities For Adaptation?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Disturbances as opportunities: Learning from disturbance‐response parallels in social and ecological systems to better adapt to climate change

Buma

Schultz

2020

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Disturbances (e.g. fires, floods, windstorms, landslides and tsunamis) are ubiquitous throughout the world. Many social and ecological systems have resilience mechanisms to accommodate and recover from such events. Yet, in an era of directional climate change, adaptation (rather than recovery to the same state) may be the most logical path. In such cases, disturbances, while often unwelcome, may function as opportunities for change. We synthesize the literature on disturbances and adaptation to climate change for both ecological and social systems, attempting to find commonalities and situations where disturbances present adaptation opportunities. We also identify three major characteristics of systems that may drive differential potential for success going forward: their overall richness of actors, their functional overlap in diversity, and their temporal rate of change. Social systems are better positioned to successfully take advantage of disturbance‐generated opportunities to adapt when they support collaboration of diverse interests and engage in pre‐disturbance response planning to seize opportunities when they arise. Ecological systems are well‐positioned for adaptation when they are diverse, populated with species that are tolerant of post‐disturbance environments, and when life‐history traits are well‐matched with the temporal and spatial distribution of those disturbances. Social systems with a lack of planning and inclusive participation and where powerful actors are resistant to change are less able to take advantage of disturbances as adaptational opportunities; ecological systems that are less diverse (spatially and in regards to species composition), especially those dominated by late successional species, are similarly constrained. Overall, we find that disturbances can create opportunities for adaptation when the ecology and social systems are aligned but there are also many situations where this is not true, depending on initial conditions, temporal pace of disturbance and system characteristics. Policy implications. Disturbances, while damaging and often catastrophic in the short term, present climate adaptation opportunities because they can spur reorganization towards climatically suitable systems. Policy makers and advocates should carefully consider current social and ecological conditions, specifically how they will reorganize post‐disturbance, and explore the options available to prepare and take advantage of (inevitable) future disturbances.

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“…Species occurrence records and functional traits are needed to quantify and map taxonomic and functional diversity for monitoring and assessing environmental influences on populations, ecological communities and ecosystem functioning (Jetz et al., 2019; Pereira et al., 2013). Taxon‐specific distribution data are also essential for predicting geographical ranges and species responses to global change, which are important facets of conservation planning (Rodríguez et al., 2007; Serra‐Diaz & Franklin, 2019). Ecologists have made progress towards assembling taxonomic occurrence and trait datasets that enable the mapping of broad‐scale biodiversity patterns of terrestrial organisms (e.g., Belmaker & Jetz, 2011; Butler et al., 2017), marine organisms (Grady et al., 2019) and freshwater fish (Comte & Olden, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Freshwater insects CONUS: A database of freshwater insect occurrences and traits for the contiguous United States

Twardochleb

Hiltner

Pyne

et al. 2021

Global Ecol. Biogeogr.

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Motivation Freshwater insects comprise 60% of freshwater animal diversity; they are widely used to assess water quality, and they provide prey for numerous freshwater and terrestrial taxa. Our knowledge of the distribution of freshwater insect diversity in the USA is incomplete because we lack comprehensive, standardized data on their distributions and functional traits at the scale of the contiguous United States (CONUS). We fill this knowledge gap by presenting Freshwater insects CONUS: A database of freshwater insect occurrences and traits for the contiguous United States. This database includes 2.05 million occurrence records for 932 genera in the major freshwater insect orders, at 51,044 stream locations sampled between 2001 and 2018 by federal and state biological monitoring programmes. Compared with existing open‐access databases, we tripled the number of occurrence records and locations and added records for 118 genera. We also present life‐history, dispersal, morphological and ecological traits and trait affinities (analogous to fuzzy‐coded traits) for 1,007 stream insect genera, assembled from existing databases, reference books and the primary literature. We nearly doubled the number of traits for 11 trait groups and added traits for 180 genera that were not available from open‐access databases. Our database, Freshwater insects CONUS, facilitates the mapping of freshwater insect taxonomic and functional diversity and, when paired with environmental data, will provide a powerful resource for quantifying how the environment shapes stream insect diversity and taxon‐specific distributions. Main types of variables contained Georeferenced occurrence records and traits for stream insects. Spatial location and grain Contiguous United States at a grain of c. 1 m2. Time period and grain Occurrence records from January 2001 to December 2018, with 1‐day temporal resolution. Traits from January 1911 to December 2018. Major taxa and level of measurement Genera from the orders Coleoptera, Diptera, Ephemeroptera, Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, Megaloptera, Neuroptera, Odonata, Plecoptera and Trichoptera. Software format .csv.

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What's hot in conservation biogeography in a changing climate? Going beyond species range dynamics

Cited by 17 publications

References 97 publications

Life‐history traits are poor predictors of species responses to flow regime change in headwater streams

Life‐history traits are poor predictors of species responses to flow regime change in headwater streams

Disturbances as opportunities: Learning from disturbance‐response parallels in social and ecological systems to better adapt to climate change

Freshwater insects CONUS: A database of freshwater insect occurrences and traits for the contiguous United States

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