Ecological-economic optimization of biodiversity conservation under climate change

BA Wintle; SA Bekessy; DA Keith; BW Van Wilgen; M Cabeza; B Schröder; SB Carvalho; A Falcucci; L Maiorano; TJ Regan; C Rondinini; L Boitani; HP Possingham

Journal article

Ecological-economic optimization of biodiversity conservation under climate change

BA Wintle, SA Bekessy, DA Keith, BW Van Wilgen, M Cabeza, B Schröder, SB Carvalho, A Falcucci, L Maiorano, TJ Regan, C Rondinini, L Boitani, HP Possingham

Nature Climate Change | Published : 2011

DOI: 10.1038/nclimate1227

Abstract

Substantial investment in climate change research has led to dire predictions of the impacts and risks to biodiversity. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change fourth assessment report cites 28,586 studies demonstrating significant biological changes in terrestrial systems. Already high extinction rates, driven primarily by habitat loss, are predicted to increase under climate change. Yet there is little specific advice or precedent in the literature to guide climate adaptation investment for conserving biodiversity within realistic economic constraints. Here we present a systematic ecological and economic analysis of a climate adaptation problem in one of the world's most species-rich..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Brendan Wintle Author

Sarah Bekessy Author

Tracey Regan Author

Related Projects (1)

Robust prediction and decision strategies for managing extinction risks under climate change

Climate change is a principal threat to biodiversity and ecosystem health. The loss of ecosystem services from loss of species and ecosystem..

Grants

Awarded by European Commission

Funding Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Commonwealth Environment Research Facility; Applied Environmental Decision Analysis and by the Australian Research Council (LP0989537, FF0668778). M.C. was supported by the EU project RESPONSES. We thank M. Bode and W. Morris for assistance in modelling the fire management efficiency curves, G. Forsyth for evaluation of the fire, habitat and weed management cost estimates, and L. Rumpff for help with Fig. 1.