NEW PAPER ALERT

A landscape vulnerability framework for identifying integrated conservation and adaptation pathways to climate change: the case of Madagascar’s spiny forest.

The Plant Conservation Unit is pleased to announce the publication of an exciting new paper by Malika Virah-Sawmy, Lindsey Gillson and colleagues in the journal Landscape Ecology. A brief summary of the paper is provided below but the full paper may be downloaded at:     http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10980-015-0269-2.

The impact of climate change on species and ecosystems depends on their vulnerability to climate change, as well as their conservation capacity. The aim of this paper was to demonstrate how a landscape vulnerability framework that integrates sensitivity, adaptive capacity, and exposure to climate change can be used to identify resistant, resilient, susceptible and sensitive habitats (see figure). These categories could then be used to identify potential strategies for conservation and adaptation decision-making.  

To apply such a vulnerability landscape assessment to Madagascar’s spiny forest, the authors inferred the sensitivity of habitats using temporal and spatial botanical data-sets, including the use of fossil pollen data and vegetation surveys. To understand adaptive capacity, they analysed existing spatial maps (reflecting anthropogenic stressors) showing the degree of habitat connectivity, matrix quality and protected area coverage for the different habitats in the landscape. Lastly, for understanding exposures, the authors used climate change predictions in Madagascar, together with a digital elevation model.

By identifying resistant, resilient, susceptible, and sensitive habitats to climate change in the landscape, the study identifies very different approaches to integrate conservation and adaptation strategies in contrasting habitats.

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