Climate Change Biology

Lee Hannah is Senior Researcher in Climate Change Biology at the Betty and Gordon Moore Center for Science and Oceans at Conservation International (CI). Tracking with his interest in the role of climate change in conservation planning and methods of corridor design, he heads CI’s efforts to develop conservation responses to climate change. He works collaboratively with the Bren School at UC Santa Barbara to model climate impacts on species in California, and with the National Botanical Institute in Cape Town, South Africa to model biotic change resulting from global warming in biodiversity hot spots in that region. He has written on the global extent of wilderness and the role of communities in the management of protected areas.

SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION; The changing climate around us.; What is climate change?; The role of climate in ecology and biogeography.


SECTION 2LESSONS FROM THE PAST; Extinctions and other effects in deep time; Terrestrial plant and animal responses; Marine species and ecosystem changes; Freshwater species and ecosystem changes

SECTION 3 THE IMPACTS OF HUMAN INDUCED CLIMATE CHANGE; Changes in species? ranges; Changes in timing and process: phenology; Ecosystem impacts

SECTION 4 LOOKING TO THE FUTURE; Models of climate and species response; Simulating ecosystem response: dynamic vegetation models; Predictions based on ecological theory; Estimating extinction risk from climate change

SECTION 5IMPLICATIONS FOR CONSERVATION; Protected areas and connectivity; Marine protected areas; Conservation in farmlands and ranchlands

SECTION 6FINDING SOLUTIONS: INTERNATIONAL POLICY AND ACTION; Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, sinks and solutions; Land use and biodiversity implications of energy options; Conclusion: Biodiversity in a greenhouse or a cool planet?