Embracing ecological uncertainty in an era of global change
Embracing ecological uncertainty in an era of global change
New research from CIRES’ North Central Climate Adaptation Center will help land managers anticipate and adapt to climate change. Led by the center’s Co-Lead Ecologist Kyra Clark-Wolf and Lead Climate Scientist, Imtiaz Rangwala, the paper recommends approaches for developing a variety of scenarios to account for ecological uncertainties in response to climate change. Collaborating with land managers and climate adaptation practitioners for the study, researchers hope the work will stimulate ecological modeling and data availability that can help land managers to better anticipate and prepare for risks in the future.
“Ecological scenarios don’t eliminate uncertainty, but they can help to navigate it more effectively by identifying strategic actions to manage forests and other ecosystems,” Clark-Wolf said.
Read the paper in published in Ecosphere.
Scientists at the North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center are collaborating with managers in the Nebraska Sandhills to develop scenarios of future ecological change under different climate conditions, disturbance events like fires and extreme droughts, and land uses like grazing. Photos: T. Walz, M. Lavin, C. Helzer, O. Richmond, NPS (top to bottom)., CC BY