Winds of (Climate) Change

In a climate-change paradox, plants and animals are forced to make difficult choices.

Changes in climate can force plants and animals out of their homes in protected areas – like state and national parks and other conserved areas – and into areas where they are less apt to survive. As these plants and animals chase better living conditions, they make themselves vulnerable to enemies or diseases they’re not prepared to battle.

On the other hand, if plants and animals don’t move, they’re at risk from threats posed by inhospitable conditions and/or invasive species moving into their neighborhoods.

In a paper published in the October issue of BioScience, NC State doctoral candidate Maria Baron Palamar, with colleagues from Stony Brook University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, combs the scientific literature to find numerous cases involving protected species that are forced to leave their sheltered homes in protected areas because climate change has made their homes, for example, too hot, too dry or too overrun by invasive predators.

The researchers find 19 cases of animal species now extinct or extinct in the wild partly due to climate change and severe weather, including two bird species in Hawaii that went extinct after being chased to higher elevations by disease-carrying mosquitoes that invaded the birds’ habitat. The birds couldn’t handle life at higher elevations and became extinct. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, 1,610 species are currently threatened by climate change or severe weather.

Since you can’t physically pick up protected areas and move them where their denizens are moving, what should conservation managers and policymakers do to deal with the changes?

The BioScience paper lays out a few recommendations. Perhaps the protected areas could be even more useful by complementing their focus on individual species with a focus on the health of the entire ecosystem. Palamar is quick to add that species-focused conservation efforts are both life-supporting and necessary, but as the paper states, “Resisting change by forcing species to remain in a geographical space that no longer represents their evolved climate envelope, for example, is as impractical and inefficient as erecting fences around protected areas.”

The paper also asserts that protected areas like state parks have a unique opportunity to engage with visitors who can take on citizen science projects in the park to help keep an eye on the park’s biodiversity. When you engage your audience, Palamar says, the audience takes ownership of the park and works harder to protect it.

Finally, the researchers recommend that protected areas serve as examples of sustainability by utilizing technologies that reduce energy usage and emissions. They can also partner with local universities, non-profits and community groups to sample the ecosystem for any encroaching dangers, like rises in invasive species or reduced numbers of important protected species.