Conservation programs neglect a critical ingredient to deal with climate change
A Monash researcher has called for a review of conservation techniques
A new study published in Nature, has highlighted a significant problem with our current biodiversity management programs and calls for a large-scale review into conservation techniques to deal with the effects of climate change before it is too late.
Dr Carla Sgrò from Monash University collaborated on the project with lead Professor Ary Hoffmann from the University of Melbourne.
Dr Sgrò said the project suggests management programs have neglected to take into account a key way species can respond to climate change - evolution.
“Climate change poses a significant threat to many species as it will change the conditions under which they live,” Dr Sgrò said.
“And species are expected to respond in one of three ways. They can move to a favourable habitat, successfully counter stressful conditions by changing behaviour or undergo evolutionary adaptation,”
Dr Sgrò noted that predicting how species will respond and what areas they are likely to colonize is central to the success of a conservation program as critical habitat can then be identified and protected.
Dr Sgrò said the problem is evolution has been assumed as too slow of a process for species to respond to climate change, and it therefore has not been considered in designing management programs.
“But recent studies have highlighted that evolutionary change can actually be rapid in a number of species,” she said.
Dr Sgrò suggests that evolutionary adaptation could be an important way for natural populations to counter rapid climate change, and we now also know that predicted colonization patterns and distribution shifts are markedly affected by the inclusion of evolution.
“It is therefore critical that evolutionary processes are incorporated into management programs designed to minimize biodiversity loss under rapid climate change.”
Professor Hoffman said this could be done by ensuring populations are large enough to maintain adaptive capacity, building corridors of genetic connectivity, and deliberately mixing genes to enhance adaptive capacity.
“Populations will then be more likely to evolve to match the unpredictable effects of climate change,” he said.