Climate change, species distributions, and conservation

Friday seminar by Chris Thomas from Department of Biology, University of York, UK

Abstract

Species are moving their geographic distributions as a result of climate change. However, individual species are showing different responses because they react to different aspects of the climate. This leads to the need to protect species where they can survive, and this is not always in the same locations where they used to be recorded historically. Therefore, conservation strategies need to promote the movement of species to places where they can survive. This will include the maintenance (and creation) of habitat stepping-stones, and in some cases human-assisted translocation. Conservation is increasingly about helping nature to be dynamic, rather than trying to stop change.

Chris Thomas
Department of Biology, University of York, UK

Published Sep. 23, 2015 9:56 AM