-
Climate Change Conversations
-
THE THOUSANDS OF PRESENTATIONS AT NEXT WEEK’S MEETING OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY (ACS) in New Orleans exemplify one of the many ways scientists converse among themselves
about the most recent advances in science. Science and technology continue to reshape the
world we live in, and appreciating how these changes, both intended and unintended, come
about is a necessity for all citizens in a democratic society. Scientists have a responsibility to
help their fellow citizens understand what science and technology can and cannot do for them
Located in
Resources
/
Climate Science Documents
-
Complexity of Coupled Human and Natural Systems
-
Integrated studies of coupled human and natural systems reveal new and complex patterns and processes not evident when studied by social or natural scientists separately. Synthesis of six case studies from around the world shows that couplings between human and natural systems vary across space, time, and organizational units. They also exhibit nonlinear dynamics with thresholds, reciprocal feedback loops, time lags, resilience, heterogeneity, and surprises. Furthermore, past couplings have legacy effects on present conditions and future possibilities.
Located in
Resources
/
Climate Science Documents
-
Conservation in a social-ecological system experiencing climate-induced tree mortality
-
We present a social-ecological framework to provide insight into climate adaptation strategies and diverse perspectives on interventions in protected areas for species experiencing climate-induced impacts. To develop this framework, we examined the current ecological condition of a culturally and commercially valuable species, considered the predicted future effects of climate change on that species in a protected area, and assessed the perspectives held by forest users and managers on future adaptive practices. We mapped the distribution of yellow-cedar (Callitropsis nootkatensis) and examined its health status in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve by comparing forest structure, tree stress-indicators, and associated thermal regimes between forests inside the park and forests at the current latitudinal limit of the species dieback. Yellow-cedar trees inside the park were healthy and relatively unstressed compared to trees outside the park that exhibited reduced crown fullness and increased foliar damage. Considering risk factors for mortality under future climate scenarios, our vulnerability model indicated future expected dieback occurring within park boundaries. Interviews with forest users and managers revealed strong support for increasing monitoring to inform interventions outside protected areas, improving management collaboration across land designations, and using a portfolio of interventions on actively managed lands. Study participants who perceived humans as separate from nature were more opposed to inter- ventions in protected areas. Linking social and ecological analyses, our study provides an interdisciplinary approach to identify system-specific metrics (e.g., stress indicators) that can better connect monitoring with management, and adaptation strategies for species impacted by climate change.
Located in
Resources
/
Climate Science Documents
-
Evolution of natural and social science interactions in global change research programs
-
Efforts to develop a global understanding of the functioning of the Earth as a system began in the mid-1980s. This effort necessitated linking knowledge from both the physical and biological realms. A motivation for this development was the growing impact of humans on the Earth system and need to provide solutions, but the study of the social drivers and their consequences for the changes that were occurring was not incorporated into the Earth System Science movement, despite early attempts to do so. The impediments to integration were many, but they are gradually being overcome, which can be seen in many trends for assessments, such as the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, as well as both basic and applied science programs. In this development, particular people and events have shaped the trajectories that have occurred. The lessons learned should be considered in such emerging research programs as Future Earth, the new global program for sustainability research. The transitioning process to this new program will take time as scientists adjust to new colleagues with different ideologies, methods, and tools and a new way of doing science.
Located in
Resources
/
Climate Science Documents
-
Facilitating Local Stakeholder Participation in Collaborative Landscape Conservation Planning
-
Landscape-scale conservation enables conservation professionals to understand the biological and social factors at work across a broad range of traditional geopolitical boundaries. With a solid understanding of these factors comes the ability to make sound management decisions based on desired future conditions. However, even the most informed decisions rely on the support of local stakeholders to become successful on the ground. Join host Brad Milley from the National Wildlife Refuge System and Dr. Catherine Doyle-Capitman as they discuss the different scales at which conservation occurs and the importance of integrating local stakeholder participation and social data into collaborative landscape conservation planning. Shared by the FWS through the National Conservation Training Center.
Located in
Training
/
Training Resources Exchange
-
Faustian bargains? Restoration realities in the context of biodiversity offset policies
-
The science and practice of ecological restoration are increasingly being called upon to compensate for the loss of biodiversity values caused by development projects. Biodiversity offsetting—compensating for losses of biodiversity at an impact site by generating ecologically equivalent gains elsewhere—therefore places substantial faith in the ability of restoration to recover lost biodiversity. Furthermore, the increase in offset-led restoration multiplies the consequences of failure to restore, since the promise of effective restoration may increase the chance that damage to biodiversity is permitted. But what evidence exists that restoration science and practice can reliably, or even feasibly, achieve the goal of ‘no net loss’ of biodiversity, and under what circumstances are successes and failures more likely? Using recent reviews of the restoration ecology literature, we examine the effectiveness of restoration as an approach for offsetting biodiversity loss, and conclude that many of the expectations set by current offset policy for ecological restoration remain unsupported by evidence. We introduce a conceptual model that illustrates three factors that limit the technical success of offsets: time lags, uncertainty and measurability of the value being offset. These factors can be managed to some extent through sound offset policy design that incorporates active adaptive management, time discounting, explicit accounting for uncertainty, and biodiversity banking. Nevertheless, the domain within which restoration can deliver ‘no net loss’ offsets remains small. A narrowing of the gap between the expectations set by offset policies and the practice of offsetting is urgently required and we urge the development of stronger links between restoration ecologists and those who make policies that are reliant upon restoration science. Keywords:Compensatory habitat - Conservation policy - Mitigation banking - Environmental risk - No net loss - Restoration success
Located in
Resources
/
Climate Science Documents
-
Feedback Requested on Park Values
-
The National Park Service is starting the process of preparing a Foundation Document for Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The park would like to invite park stakeholders to join in this effort.
Located in
News & Events
-
Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production
-
Growing evidence demonstrates that climatic conditions can have a profound impact on the functioning of modern human societies (1,2), but effects on economic activity appear inconsistent. Fundamental productive elements of modern economies, such as workers and crops, exhibit highly non-linear responses to local temperature even in wealthy countries (3,4). In contrast, aggregate macroeconomic productivity of entire wealthy countries is reported not to respond to temperature (5), while poor countries respond only linearly (5,6). Resolving this conflict between micro and macro observations is critical to understanding the role of wealth in coupled human–natural systems (7,8) and to anticipating the global impact of climate change (9,10). Here we unify these seemingly contradictory results by accounting for non-linearity at the macro scale. We show that overall economic productivity is non- linear in temperature for all countries, with productivity peaking at an annual average temperature of 13 6C and declining strongly at higher temperatures. The relationship is globally generalizable, unchanged since 1960, and apparent for agricultural and non-agricultural activity in both rich and poor countries. These results provide the first evidence that economic activity in all regions is coupled to the global climate and establish a new empirical foundation for modelling economic loss in response to climate change (11,12), with important implications. If future adaptation mimics past adaptation, unmitigated warming is expected to reshape the global economy by reducing average global incomes roughly 23% by 2100 and widening global income inequality, relative to scenarios without climate change. In contrast to prior estimates, expected global losses are approximately linear in global mean temperature, with median losses many times larger than leading models indicate.
Located in
Resources
/
Climate Science Documents
-
Human Dimensions
-
2013 SN Portfolio: Mission is to incorporate ecosystem services values into natural resource decision-making.
Located in
Cooperative
/
…
/
2013 Science Needs Portfolio
/
PDF Thematic Areas
-
Human Dimensions Foundations of Natural Resource Conservation
-
This course will foster a common understanding and application of human dimensions of natural resource conservation.
Located in
News & Events
/
Events
