This book comprehensively describes essential research and projects on
climate change and biodiversity. Moreover, it includes contributions on
how to promote the climate agenda and biodiversity conservation at the
local level. Climate change as a whole and global warming in particular
are known to have a negative impact on biodiversity in three main ways.
Firstly, increases in temperatures are detrimental to a number of
organisms, especially those in sensitive habitats such as coral reefs
and rainforests. Secondly, the pressures posed by a changing climate may
lead to sets of responses in areas as varied as phenology, range and
physiology of living organisms, often leading to changes in their
lifecycles (especially but not only in reproduction), losses in
productivity or even death. In some cases, the very survival of very
sensitive species may be endangered. Thirdly, the impacts of climate
change on biodiversity will be felt in the short term with regard to
some species and ecosystems, but also in the medium and long term in
many biomes. Indeed, if left unchecked, some of these impacts may be
irreversible.
Many individual governments, financial institutes and international
donors are currently spending billions of dollars on projects addressing
climate change and biodiversity, but with little coordination. Quite
often, the emphasis is on adaptation efforts, with little emphasis on
the connections between physio-ecological changes and the lifecycles and
metabolisms of fauna and flora, or the influence of poor governance on
biodiversity. As such, there is a recognized need to not only better
understand the impacts of climate change on biodiversity, but to also
identify, test and implement measures aimed at managing the many risks
that climate change poses to fauna, flora and micro-organisms. In
particular, the question of how to restore and protect ecosystems from
the impact of climate change also has to be urgently addressed.
This book was written to address this need. The respective papers
explore matters related to the use of an ecosystem-based approach to
increase local adaptation capacity, consider the significance of a
protected areas network in preserving biodiversity in a changing
northern European climate, and assess the impacts of climate change on
specific species, including wild terrestrial animals. The book also
presents a variety of case studies such as the Yellowstone to Yukon
Conservation Initiative, the effects of climate change on the
biodiversity of Aleppo pine forest in Senalba (Algeria), climate change
and biodiversity response in the Niger Delta region, and the effects of
forest fires on the biodiversity and the soil characteristics of
tropical peatlands in Indonesia.
This is a truly interdisciplinary publication, and will benefit all
scholars, social movements, practitioners and members of governmental
agencies engaged in research and/or executing projects on climate change
and biodiversity around the world.
