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Refugia: identifying and understanding safe havens for biodiversity under climate change
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Refugia: identifying and understanding safe havens for biodiversity under climate change

Gunnar Keppel, Kimberly P. Van Niel, Grant W. Wardell-Johnson, Colin J. Yates, Margaret Byrne, Ladislav Mucina, Antonius G. T. Schut, Stephen D. Hopper and Steven E. Franklin
Global ecology and biogeography, Vol.21(4), pp.393-404
2011
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1466-8238.2011.00686.x
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Abstract

Climate change conservation disturbance habitat microclimate palaeobiology phylogeography refuges species distribution models
Aim: Identifying and protecting refugia is a priority for conservation under projected anthropogenic climate change, because of their demonstrated ability to facilitate the survival of biota under adverse conditions. Refugia are habitats that components of biodiversity retreat to, persist in and can potentially expand from under changing environmental conditions. However, the study and discussion of refugia has often been ad hoc and descriptive in nature. We therefore: (1) provide a habitat-based concept of refugia, and (2) evaluate methods for the identification of refugia. Location: Global. Methods We present a simple conceptual framework for refugia and examine the factors that describe them. We then demonstrate how different disciplines are contributing to our understanding of refugia, and the tools that they provide for identifying and quantifying refugia. Results: Current understanding of refugia is largely based on Quaternary phylogeographic studies on organisms in North America and Europe during significant temperature fluctuations. This has resulted in gaps in our understanding of refugia, particularly when attempting to apply current theory to forecast anthropogenic climate change. Refugia are environmental habitats with space and time dimensions that operate on evolutionary time-scales and have facilitated the survival of biota under changing environmental conditions for millennia. Therefore, they offer the best chances for survival under climate change for many taxa, making their identification important for conservation under anthropogenic climate change. Several methods from various disciplines provide viable options for achieving this goal. Main conclusions: The framework developed for refugia allows the identification and description of refugia in any environment. Various methods provide important contributions but each is limited in scope; urging a more integrated approach to identify, define and conserve refugia. Such an approach will facilitate better understanding of refugia and their capacity to act as safe havens under projected anthropogenic climate change.

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#13 Climate Action
#14 Life Below Water
#15 Life on Land

Source: InCites

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17 Record Views
926 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Citation topics
3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
3.40 Forestry
3.40.195 Biodiversity Conservation
Web Of Science research areas
Ecology
Geography, Physical
ESI research areas
Environment/Ecology
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