Orange County NC Website
Photo: U.S. Global Change Research Program, 2009 <br />To facilitate species movement and exchange of <br />genetic material to maintain resilient species popu- <br />lations, conservationists and managers will need <br />to identify and protect areas critical for climate - <br />induced wildlife movement such as corridors for <br />terrestrial species and stepping -stone habitats for <br />species that need stopover locations between protect- <br />ed areas. Actions that facilitate species movements <br />also include increasing stream and river connectiv- <br />ity through such approaches as dam removals and <br />stream and floodplain restoration projects. A key <br />component of maintaining and restoring ecological <br />connectivity will be to increase the permeability of <br />the human landscape, or the lands and waters outside <br />of protected areas to wildlife movement. Actions to <br />increase permeability include wildlife friendly farm- <br />ing, installation of fish ladders in dammed rivers, <br />and use of predator - friendly enclosures for domestic <br />pets or livestock to prevent human- wildlife conflicts. <br />Finally, increasing ecological connectivity will require <br />coordination among different land management <br />agencies and private landowners at local, state, and <br />federal levels. Rather than preserving areas in isola- <br />tion, agencies, organizations, and individuals should <br />work together to develop a connected network of <br />conservation lands and waters. <br />In general, systems and species that are already <br />stressed will be less resilient to climate change and <br />reducing non - climate threats will give wildlife species <br />maximum flexibility to respond to climate change <br />(Mawdsley et al. 2009). Many ecological threats may <br />interact synergistically with climate change, includ- <br />ing invasive species (Hellmann et al. 2008), wildfire <br />(Marlon et al. 2009), and fragmentation (Jackson and <br />Sax 20 10) resulting in an increased impact on native <br />species. Managers may need to redefine acceptable <br />or manageable levels of these ongoing threats based <br />on the idea that the impact of these stresses will <br />likely be greater than anticipated when the effects <br />of climate change are added. Minimizing ongoing <br />threats to species or ecosystems is a robust adaptation <br />action for helping species and ecosystems deal with <br />climate change. Actions that build resilience are less <br />dependent on specific future climate conditions and <br />therefore have less uncertainty associated with their <br />outcomes (Lawler et al. 2010). Actions may include <br />invasive species removal or restoring altered hydrol- <br />ogy in coastal marsh ecosystems. <br />Maintaining ecological function and promoting <br />biodiversity is tied to increased ecosystem resilience <br />and the provision of ecosystem services that humans <br />depend on. Actions that build resilience focus on <br />maintaining critical ecosystem functions such as <br />water purification and carbon cycling and high levels <br />of overall biodiversity, rather than focusing on main- <br />taining specific historical compositional components <br />of an ecosystem. To implement actions that build <br />resilience, managers would need to define key indica- <br />tors of ecosystem function, and then design manage- <br />ment actions to keep those functions operational <br />(Mawdsley et al. 2009). Studies have concluded that <br />various levels of diversity appear to be critical for <br />resilience and for the provision of ecosystem services <br />(Hooper et al. 2005) and therefore protection of <br />different levels of biodiversity (genetic, species, func- <br />