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Impacts of Climate Change on Habitats and Conservation Areas

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainability, Biodiversity and Conservation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2022) | Viewed by 9174

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Rui Nabeiro Biodiversity Chair, MED: Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development, University Évora, 7000-890 Évora, Portugal
Interests: optimized conservation planning; biogeography; climate change
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The synergetic effects of climate change and habitat loss are the most striking stressors for biodiversity and ecosystems. Additionally, the customary actions for Nature protection—fixed and perpetual conservation areas—tend to be highly ineffective under climate and land-use changes, because of shifting species ranges. Addressing the impacts of climate change over species, ecosystems and conservation area success will require long-term efforts and new ways of thinking and acting. This SI aims to tackle the challenges induced by climate change in the natural and semi-natural landscapes. Specifically, the following:

-species range dynamics

-biotic interactions and stability of communities

-ecosystem functions and services

-climate-concerned conservation measures (either reactive or anticipative)

-relationships between climate mitigation and biodiversity conservation

-handling and integrating uncertainty in nature-based land protection and/or management

-others (related)

are important avenues of scientific research, demanding deep knowledge and testing.

Studies providing novel analytical, conceptual, integrative, or perspective approaches are expected to give to this SI an important scientific impact within the fundamental and applied fields of “modern-day” ecology and conservation. Particularly, on the eves of the upcoming COP15 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, studies here published may provide important and influential ideas for debate therein.

Submissions to this SI are subjected to regular publication requirements found in “Instruction for Authors” provided by Sustainability, and will follow the policies regarding the reviewing and publication processes of the journal.

Best wishes,

Dr. Diogo Alagador
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • biodiversity conservation
  • climate change adaptation
  • climate change mitigation
  • conservation policy
  • nature-based solutions
  • ecosystem services
  • habitats
  • land management
  • land use
  • prediction
  • species
  • uncertainty

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 41673 KiB  
Article
Prediction of Potential Geographical Distribution Patterns of Actinidia arguta under Different Climate Scenarios
by Yining Ma, Xiaoling Lu, Kaiwei Li, Chunyi Wang, Ari Guna and Jiquan Zhang
Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3526; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063526 - 22 Mar 2021
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 2852
Abstract
Actinidia arguta (Siebold and Zucc.) Planch.ex Miq, called “hardy kiwifruit”, “baby kiwi” or “kiwi berry”, has a unique taste, is rich in nutrients and has high economic value and broad market prospects. Active research on the potential geographic distribution of A. arguta in [...] Read more.
Actinidia arguta (Siebold and Zucc.) Planch.ex Miq, called “hardy kiwifruit”, “baby kiwi” or “kiwi berry”, has a unique taste, is rich in nutrients and has high economic value and broad market prospects. Active research on the potential geographic distribution of A. arguta in China aims to provide a reference basis for its resource investigation, conservation, development and utilization and introduction of cultivation. In this study, the Maxent model was used to combine climatic factors, soil factors and geographical factors (elevation, slope and aspect) to predict the current and future (2041–2060 and 2081–2100) potential distribution of A. arguta and to analyze the impact of climate change on it. The results showed that the suitable distribution range of A. arguta in China was 23–43 N and 100–125 E, with a total area of about 3.4451 × 106 km2. The highly suitable area of A. arguta was mainly concentrated in the middle and low mountain areas of the south of Shaanxi, the east of Sichuan, the middle and west of Guizhou and the west of Yunnan, presenting a circular distribution. The Jackknife test was used to calculate the main environmental factors affecting the distribution of A. arguta. The first four main factors were annual mean temperature (bio_1), precipitation of the warmest quarter (bio_18), elevation (ELE) and mean temperature of the warmest quarter (bio_10), which provided a contribution up to 81.7%. Under the scenarios of three representative concentrations (SSP1_2.6, SSP2_4.5 and SSP5_8.5) in the future, the area of low and moderate suitable habitat decreased, while the area of highly suitable habitat increased. The migration direction of the centroid in the highly suitable habitat moved to the southwest in the future scenario period. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impacts of Climate Change on Habitats and Conservation Areas)
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22 pages, 5862 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Climate Change Impacts on the Potential Distribution of Styrax sumatrana in North Sumatra, Indonesia
by Muhammad Hadi Saputra and Han Soo Lee
Sustainability 2021, 13(2), 462; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020462 - 6 Jan 2021
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4374
Abstract
This study aims to assess the impact of climate change on the distribution of Styrax sumatrana in North Sumatra by applying the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model with biophysical factors (elevation, slope, aspect, and soil), climatic factors (19 bioclimate data sets for 2050 and [...] Read more.
This study aims to assess the impact of climate change on the distribution of Styrax sumatrana in North Sumatra by applying the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model with biophysical factors (elevation, slope, aspect, and soil), climatic factors (19 bioclimate data sets for 2050 and 2070), and anthropogenic factors (land use land cover (LULC) changes in 2050 and 2070). The future climate data retrieved and used are the output of four climate models from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5), namely, the CCSM4, CNRM-CM5, MIROC5, and MRI-CGCM3 models, under the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios. The MaxEnt modelling results showed the importance of the mean temperature of the coldest quarter and the LULC variables. Styrax sumatrana rely on environmental conditions with air temperatures ranging from 13 to 19 °C. The potentially suitable land types for Styrax sumatrana are shrubs, gardens, and forests. The future predictions show that the suitable habitat for Styrax sumatrana is predicted to decrease to 3.87% in 2050 and to 3.54% in 2070 under the RCP4.5 scenario. Under the RCP8.5 scenario, the suitable area is predicted to decrease to 3.04% in 2050 and to 1.36% in 2070, respectively. The degradation of the suitable area is mainly due to increasing temperature and deforestation in future predictions. The modelling results illustrate that the suitable habitats of Styrax sumatrana are likely to be reduced under future climate change scenarios or lost in 2070 under the RCP8.5 scenario. The potential future extinction of this species should alert authorities to formulate conservation strategies. Results also demonstrated key variables that should be used for formulating ex situ conservation strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impacts of Climate Change on Habitats and Conservation Areas)
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