Below is the newest edition of the Region One Climate Change Science Update. FWS employees can also find it
and past issues on the Climate Change Sharepoint site.
Pacific Region Climate Change Science Update
August, 2103 Issue
A monthly e-newsletter aimed at helping you stay connected to climate change science that is integral to
our conservation work.
Do you have a new published article you would like to share? Please send it our way And many thanks to
those who have provided material for this edition!
David Patte
Climate Change Coordinator (Senior Advisor on Ecosystem Change)
US Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific Region, Portland, Oregon
(503) 231-6210 Facebook site
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Cool Stuff
Climate Extremes Video: we highly recommend this 17 minute, Australian produced documentary on extreme
weather events and climate change. You will need to download the file in order to view it:
http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/tv/catalyst/catalyst_14_11_wildweather.mp4 The documentary does an
exceptional job with visualizations and explained why extreme climate events are already occurring more
frequently. Features Dr Erich Fischer, Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH; Dr Karl Braganza,
Australian Bureau of Meteorology; Dr Lisa Alexander, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW; Dr Susan
Wijffels, Marine and Atmospheric Research, CSIRO; and Professor Jennifer Francis, Institute of Marine and
Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University.
Free Go Green animated screen saver from the US Postal Service available at this website
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Biodiversity/Species and Ecosystem Response-- Journal Articles & Other
Publications
[FWS Employees- Click here for the entire FWS R1 Sharepoint CC Species/Ecosystems Response Library]
The latest issue of the journal Science is a special issue titled "Natural Systems in Changing
Climates." Here's a link for the table of contents for the entire section, which has very brief descriptions
of each article/paper: http://www.sciencemag.org/site/special/climate2013/index.xhtml Following are a
few featured items.
Climate Change and the Past, Present, and Future of Biotic Interactions (review paper by Blois et
al.) http://www.sciencemag.org/content/341/6145/499.full.pdf
The Future of Species Under Climate Change: Resilience or Decline (review paper by C. Moritz & R.
Agudao) http://www.sciencemag.org/content/341/6145/504.full.pdf
Changes in Ecologically Critical Terrestrial Climate Conditions (N.S. Diffenbaugh and C. B. Field)
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/341/6145/486.full.pdf Among other findings, this paper
indicates that if global temperatures rise 1.5 degrees Celsius over the next century, the rate will be
about 10 times faster than what's been seen before; and if the Earth stays on its current course
without reversing the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, and global temperatures rise 5 degrees
Celsius, as scientists say is possible, the pace of change will be at least 50 times and possibly 100
times greater than even the highest velocity past climate change event….
Ecological Consequences of Sea-Ice Loss (Post et al.)
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/341/6145/519.full.pdf
Sensitivity of salmonid freshwater life history in western US streams to future climate conditions:
Researchers project effects of mid-21st century climate on the early life growth of Chinook salmon and
steelhead in western U.S. streams. Air temperature and snowpack trends projected from observed 20th
century trends were used to predict future seasonal stream temperatures. Fish growth from winter to
summer was projected with temperature-dependent models of egg development and juvenile growth.
Based on temperature data from 115 sites, by mid-21st century, the effects of climate change are
projected to be mixed. Fish in warm-region streams that are currently cooled by snow melt will grow less,
and fish in suboptimally cool streams will grow more. Relative to 20th century conditions, by mid-21st
century juvenile salmonids' weights are expected to be lower in the Columbia Basin and California Central
Valley, but unchanged or greater in coastal and mountain streams. Because fish weight affects fish
survival, the predicted changes in weight could impact population fitness depending on other factors such
as density effects, food quality and quantity changes, habitat alterations, etc. The level of year-to-year
variability in stream temperatures is high and our analysis suggests that identifying effects of climate
change over the natural variability will be difficult except in a few streams. (Beer, W. N. and Anderson, J. J.
(2013), Sensitivity of salmonid freshwater life history in western US streams to future climate conditions.
Global Change Biology, 19: 2547–2556. doi: 10.1111/gcb.12242)
Climate-Aquatics Blog #45: Part 4, Mechanisms of change in fish populations: Temperature effects on
growth & survival #46: Part 5, Mechanisms of change in fish populations: Exceedance of thermal
thresholds (Dan Isaak, Boise Aquatic Research Lab, Rocky Mountain Research Station, US Forest Service)
Increased Air Temperature Limits Douglas-Fir Growth (summary courtesy the Climate Circulator—
subscribe here): Annual summer drought affects the growth and function of forests throughout the Pacific
Northwest. A recent study evaluated the relative importance of air temperature and soil moisture on
Douglas-fir growth in western Oregon. The authors compared seasonal growth of Douglas-fir trees to air
temperature and moisture data for growing seasons from 1998 to 2009. Using five sites (four in the
Cascade Mountains, one in the Coast Range), dendrometer measurements were taken year-round at 4week intervals to study the growth of the trees under different temperature and soil moisture conditions
throughout the growing seasons. Results suggest that temperature and water are currently limiting
growth in Douglas-firs, and an above average summer air temperature affected all sites. Hotter summers
predicted by climate change models could make the species vulnerable in the future. (Beedlow, P.A., E.H.
Lee, D.T. Tingey, R.S. Waschmann, and C.A. Burdick. 2013. The importance of seasonal temperature and
moisture patterns on growth of Douglas-fir in western Oregon, USA. Agriculture and Forest Meteorology
Vol. 169: 174-185. doi: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2012.10.010)
Rates of projected climate change dramatically exceed past rates of climatic niche evolution among
vertebrate species: A key question in predicting responses to anthropogenic climate change is: how
quickly can species adapt to different climatic conditions? Here, researchers take a phylogenetic approach
to this question. When two living species are closely related, scientists can estimate how long ago they
diverged, thus providing an age for their common ancestor. Researchers can also estimate temperature
and precipitation in that ancestor's habitat, using evolutionary models. Quintero and Wiens calculated
such estimates for 540 species in 17 groups of living vertebrates. They studied reptiles, amphibians, birds,
and mammals primarily native to North and Central America, but with some European, Asian, Australian,
South American, and African species as well. Then they used global climate models to determine how the
local climate of each species is expected to change by the end of this century. Results are striking:
matching projected changes for 2100 would require rates of niche evolution that are > 10 000 times faster
than rates typically observed among species, for most variables and clades. Despite many caveats, the
results suggest that adaptation to projected changes in the next 100 years would require rates that are
largely unprecedented based on observed rates among vertebrate species. (Quintero and Wiens, Ecology
Letters (August, 2013) 16: 1095–1103, DOI: 10.1111/ele.12144 )
Annual plants change in size over a century of observations: Studies have documented changes in animal
body sizes over the last century, but very little is known about changes in plant sizes, even though reduced
plant productivity is potentially responsible for declines in size of other organisms. This research shows
that multiple annual forbs from the Great Basin have decreased in size, but that even within the same
functional group, species may have contrasting responses to similar environmental stimuli. Changes in
plant size could have cascading effects on other members of these communities, and differential
responses to directional change may change the composition of plant communities over time. (Leger, E. A.
(2013), Annual plants change in size over a century of observations. Global Change Biology, 19: 2229–
2239. doi: 10.1111/gcb.12208)
Impacts of climate change on avian populations: This review focuses on the impacts of climate change on
population dynamics. The author introduces a Measuring, Understanding, and Predicting approach, which
provides a general framework where an enhanced understanding of climate-population processes, along
with improved long-term data, are merged into coherent projections of future population responses to
climate change. This approach can be applied to any species, but this review illustrates its benefit using
birds as examples. To quantify how populations cope with climate change impacts, a new universal
variable is proposed: the ‘population robustness to climate change.’ The comparison of such robustness,
along with prospective and retrospective analysis may help to identify the major climate threats and
characteristics of threatened avian species. Finally, studies projecting avian population responses to future
climate change predicted by IPCC-class climate models are rare. Population projections hinge on selecting
a multiclimate model ensemble at the appropriate temporal and spatial scales and integrating both
radiative forcing and internal variability in climate with fully specified uncertainties in both demographic
and climate processes. (Jenouvrier, S. (2013), Impacts of climate change on avian populations. Global
Change Biology, 19: 2036–2057. doi: 10.1111/gcb.12195)
Rapid climate driven shifts in wintering distributions of three common waterbird species: Climate
change is predicted to cause changes in species distributions and several studies report margin range
shifts in some species. However, the reported changes rarely concern a species' entire distribution and are
not always linked to climate change. Here, researchers demonstrate strong north-eastwards shifts in the
centres of gravity of the entire wintering range of three common waterbird species along the North-West
Europe flyway during the past three decades. These shifts correlate with an increase of 3.8 °C in early
winter temperature in the north-eastern part of the wintering areas, where bird abundance increased
exponentially, corresponding with decreases in abundance at the south-western margin of the wintering
ranges. This confirms the need to re-evaluate conservation site safeguard networks and associated
biodiversity monitoring along the flyway, as new important wintering areas are established further north
and east, and highlights the general urgency of conservation planning in a changing world. Range shifts in
wintering waterbirds may also affect hunting pressure, which may alter bag sizes and lead to populationlevel consequences. (Lehikoinen, A., Jaatinen, K., Vähätalo, A. V., Clausen, P., Crowe, O., Deceuninck, B.,
Hearn, R., Holt, C. A., Hornman, M., Keller, V., Nilsson, L., Langendoen, T., Tománková, I., Wahl, J. and Fox,
A. D. (2013), Rapid climate driven shifts in wintering distributions of three common waterbird species.
Global Change Biology, 19: 2071–2081. doi: 10.1111/gcb.12200)
Altered dynamics of forest recovery under a changing climate: This review paper demonstrates that the
dynamics of forest recovery are likely to be significantly impacted by rising atmospheric CO2 and climate
change. This will have repercussions for biodiversity, climate, and even economics, as the forestry industry
and emerging woody bioenergy industry stand to be affected by altered forest regeneration rates.
Because the course of forest recovery shapes forest structure and function for decades or centuries,
climate change impacts on secondary forests will have a lasting legacy. Although the proportion of
recently disturbed forests is relatively small at any given time, disturbance eventually affects all forests,
and the proportion of forests that have regenerated under altered climate conditions will steadily grow. In
these ways, climate change will broadly impact forested regions through its influence on forest recovery
dynamics. (Anderson-Teixeira, K. J., Miller, A. D., Mohan, J. E., Hudiburg, T. W., Duval, B. D. and DeLucia, E.
H. (2013), Altered dynamics of forest recovery under a changing climate. Global Change Biology, 19: 2001–
2021. doi: 10.1111/gcb.12194)
Temperature variation makes ectotherms more sensitive to climate change: Ectotherms are considered
to be particularly vulnerable to climate warming. Descriptions of habitat temperatures and predicted
changes in climate usually consider mean monthly, seasonal or annual conditions. Ectotherms, however,
do not simply experience mean conditions, but are exposed to daily fluctuations in habitat temperatures.
Here, researchers highlight how temperature fluctuation can generate ‘realized’ thermal reaction (fitness)
norms that differ from the ‘fundamental’ norms derived under standard constant temperatures…
Prevailing daily fluctuations in temperature are found to alter the sensitivity of species to climate warming
by reducing ‘thermal safety margins’. Such effects of daily temperature dynamics have generally been
ignored in the climate change literature. (Paaijmans, K. P., Heinig, R. L., Seliga, R. A., Blanford, J. I.,
Blanford, S., Murdock, C. C. and Thomas, M. B. (2013), Temperature variation makes ectotherms more
sensitive to climate change. Global Change Biology, 19: 2373–2380. doi: 10.1111/gcb.12240)
New Fire Science Digest: Climate Change Tipping Points of No Return? (Focus on Western Forests)
Studies supported by the Joint Fire Science Program are beginning to provide guidance for managers to
plan for a warmer climate on a time scale of decades, or even a century or more, to better reflect the life
span of trees and forests. A central question of interest to researchers is whether there are tipping points,
points of no return beyond which landscapes will not revert to their historically documented conditions.
Can managers’ actions postpone or halt these drastic changes in forest conditions, or will they instead be
forced to plan for a response to inevitable, abrupt changes in the landscape? (Fire Science Digest, Issue 15,
May 2013, Joint Fire Science Program) Note related webinar: Aug 20, 1-2pm (Pacific Time), Fire
management, fuels, and climate change tipping points, Presenter: Bob Keane, US Forest Service RMRS
Missoula Fire Lab. Read more and register here.
Will Vegetation Change in Western North America in the Twenty-First Century? (summary courtesy the
Climate Circulator—subscribe here) To assess future potential changes in vegetation distribution in
western North America (roughly everything west of 102° W), the authors of this study modeled future
climate and vegetation under the SRES A2 emissions scenario. To better evaluate the range of
uncertainties, an ensemble of 8 different sea-surface-temperature boundary conditions was employed.
There is broad consensus across the ensemble that the vegetation of western North America will change
markedly by the end of the 21st century. Projections are for a halving of needleleaf evergreen tree
coverage (from 24% of the total to 11%), and a more than doubling (from 11% of the total to 25%) of
shrub and grass coverage. The major drivers of these changes are warmer temperatures, and the resultant
heat and water stress experienced by the vegetation. The net impact would be about a 50% reduction
(6Gt) of ecosystem carbon storage, with a little more than half of that coming from vegetation carbon
stocks, and a little less than half coming from soil carbon stocks. (Jiang, X., S.A. Rauscher, T.D. Ringler,
D.M. Lawrence, A.P. Williams, C.D. Allen, A.L. Steiner, D.M. Cai, and N.G. McDowell. 2013. Projected Future
Changes in Vegetation in Western North America in the Twenty-First Century. Journal of Climate Vol. 26:
3671-3687. doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00430.1)
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Aquatic Ecosystems/Water Resources/Hydrology
[FWS Employees- Click here for the entire FWS R1 SharePoint C.C. Water Resources Library]
Changes in North American snowpacks for 1979–2007 detected from the snow water equivalent data of
SMMR and SSM/I passive microwave and related climatic factors: Changes to the North American
snowpacks for 1979–2007 were detected from snow water equivalent (SWE) retrieved empirically from
horizontally polarized brightness temperature (TB) of a scanning multichannel microwave radiometer (18
and 37 GHz) and special sensor microwave imager (19 and 37 GHz) passive microwave data using the
nonparametric Kendall's test. The predominant SWE trends detected agree with negative anomalies in
snow cover observed in Northern Hemisphere since the 1980s, and both the SWE and snow cover results
should be related to the significant increase in the surface temperature of North America (NA) observed
since the 1970s. About 30% of detected decreasing trends of SWE for 1979–2007 are statistically
significant, which is three times more than the significant increasing trends of SWE detected in NA.
Significant decreasing SWE trends are more extensive in Canada than in the United States. The mean trend
magnitudes detected for December–April are −0.4 to −0.5 mm/yr, which means an overall reduction of
snow depth of about 5–8 cm in 29 years (assuming a snowpack density between 200 and 250 kg/m3),
which can impact regions relying on spring snowmelt for water supply. From detected increasing
(decreasing) trends of gridded temperature (precipitation) based on the North American Regional
Reanalysis data set and the University of Delaware data set for NA, their respective correlations with SWE
data and other findings, such as global scale decline of snow cover, longer rainfall seasons, etc., it seems
the extensive decreasing trends in SWE detected mainly in Canada are more caused by increasing
temperatures than by decreasing precipitation. However, climate anomalies could also contribute to the
detected trends, such as PC1 of NA's SWE, which is found to be correlated to the Pacific Decadal
Oscillation index and marginally correlated to the Pacific North American pattern. (Gan, T. Y., R. G. Barry,
M. Gizaw, A. Gobena, and R. Balaji (2013), Changes in North American snowpacks for 1979–2007 detected
from the snow water equivalent data of SMMR and SSM/I passive microwave and related climatic factors,
J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 118, doi:10.1002/jgrd.50507)
Climate change impacts on maritime mountain snowpack in the Oregon Cascades: Globally, maritime
snow comprises 10% of seasonal snow and is considered highly sensitive to changes in temperature. This
study investigates the effect of climate change on maritime mountain snowpack in the McKenzie River
Basin (MRB) in the Cascades Mountains of Oregon, USA. Melt water from the MRB's snowpack provides
critical water supply for agriculture, ecosystems, and municipalities throughout the region especially in
summer when water demand is high. Because maritime snow commonly falls at temperatures close to 0
°C, accumulation of snow versus rainfall is highly sensitive to temperature increases. Analyses of current
climate and projected climate change impacts show rising temperatures in the region. To better
understand the sensitivity of snow accumulation to increased temperatures, we modeled the spatial
distribution of snow water equivalent (SWE) in the MRB for the period of 1989–2009 with the SnowModel
spatially distributed model. Simulations were evaluated using point-based measurements of SWE,
precipitation, and temperature that showed Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency coefficients of 0.83, 0.97, and 0.80,
respectively. Spatial accuracy was shown to be 82% using snow cover extent from the Landsat Thematic
Mapper. The validated model was used to evaluate the sensitivity of snowpack to projected temperature
increases and variability in precipitation, and how changes were expressed in the spatial and temporal
distribution of SWE. Results show that a 2 °C increase in temperature would shift peak snowpack 12 days
earlier and decrease basin-wide volumetric snow water storage by 56%. Snowpack between the elevations
of 1000 and 1800 m is the most sensitive to increases in temperature. Upper elevations were also
affected, but to a lesser degree. Temperature increases are the primary driver of diminished snowpack
accumulation, however variability in precipitation produce discernible changes in the timing and
volumetric storage of snowpack. This regional scale study serves as a case study, providing a modeling
framework to better understand the impacts of climate change in similar maritime regions of the world.
(Citation: Sproles, E., Nolin, A., Rittger, K., and Painter, T.: Climate change impacts on maritime mountain
snowpack in the Oregon Cascades, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., 9, 13037-13081, doi:10.5194/hessd-913037-2012, 2012)
Stream Temperatures in the Pacific Northwest and North America: (summary courtesy the Climate
Circulator—subscribe here) Stream temperature is important to ecological processes, though few studies
to date have focused on the full range of annual conditions. Stream temperature monitoring in many
studies tends to focus only on summer months. To study thermal regimes in streams, the authors selected
five long-term stream gaging stations in western Oregon. These gages measured year-round stream
temperature and were mostly complete for the 1979 to 2009 period of record. The study used the
magnitude, variability, frequency, duration, and timing of events as descriptors to more appropriately
characterize the thermal regime both spatially and temporally. Using different descriptors aided in
capturing distinctions in the full range of spatial and temporal variability. Trends in stream temperature,
especially minimum temperatures, were observed for the study period. Strictly speaking, this may be
reflective of regional climatic influences; similar findings for regional air temperatures have been found in
other recent studies. Thermal regimes showed high frequency and low variability of cold temperatures in
the cool water season of winter and spring, and high frequency and high variability during summer and
fall. (Arismendi, I., S.L. Johnson, J.B. Dunham, and R. Haggerty. 2013. Descriptors of natural thermal
regimes in streams and their responsiveness to change in the Pacific Northwest of North America.
Freshwater Biology Vol. 58: 880-894. doi: 10.1111/fwb.12094)
A Look at Regional Groundwater Systems in the Deschutes Basin, Oregon: (summary courtesy the
Climate Circulator—subscribe here) Projected warming in the 21st century is expected to shift the phase of
precipitation towards more rain and less snow in the mountainous areas of the PNW. This will result in
smaller snow packs and a shift in the timing of snow melt/runoff to earlier in the year. In order to evaluate
impacts on groundwater systems, Waibel et al. simulate the hydrologic response in the upper Deschutes
Basin to these climatic changes. They find that the response of groundwater systems can vary depending
on the location and spatial scale of the flow system and the system’s aquifer characteristics. Short-flowpath groundwater systems, such as those providing base flow to headwater streams and springs in the
uplands, will likely exhibit groundwater discharge pulses 1-2 months earlier than currently experienced. In
contrast, systems with long flow paths, such as those at the terminal (downstream) end of a regional
groundwater system, will exhibit much reduced changes in the seasonality of flows. (Waibel, M.S., M.W.
Gannett, H. Chang, and C.L. Hulbe. 2013. Spatial variability of the response to climate change in regional
groundwater systems - Examples from simulations in the Deschutes Basin, Oregon. Journal of Hydrology
Vol. 486: 187-201. doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.01.019)
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Coastal/Marine Ecosystems/Ocean Acidification
[FWS Employees- Click here for the entire FWS R1 SharePoint CC Coastal Library]
Global imprint of climate change on marine life: Past meta-analyses of the response of marine organisms
to climate change have examined a limited range of locations, taxonomic groups and/or biological
responses. This has precluded a robust overview of the effect of climate change in the global ocean. Here,
researchers synthesized all available studies of the consistency of marine ecological observations with
expectations under climate change. This yielded a meta-database of 1,735 marine biological responses for
which either regional or global climate change was considered as a driver. Included were instances of
marine taxa responding as expected, in a manner inconsistent with expectations, and taxa demonstrating
no response. From this database, 81–83% of all observations for distribution, phenology, community
composition, abundance, demography and calcification across taxa and ocean basins were consistent with
the expected impacts of climate change. Of the species responding to climate change, rates of distribution
shifts were, on average, consistent with those required to track ocean surface temperature changes.
Conversely, a relationship between regional shifts in spring phenology and the seasonality of temperature
was not found. Rates of observed shifts in species’ distributions and phenology are comparable to, or
greater, than those for terrestrial systems. (Poloczanska et al., Global imprint of climate change on
marine life, Nature Climate Change, 2013, published online Aug 4 doi:10.1038/nclimate1958)
Estimating Vertical Land Motion from Long-Term Tide Gauge Records: This report documents a
methodology that can be used to estimate the vertical land motion (VLM) at NOAA tide stations by
performing an oceanographic analysis of the long-term data sets. In the near future, VLM measurements
will be the primary adjustment needed to locally calibrate scenario projections of global sea level rise such
as those being generated by the National Climatic Assessment (NCA) for the US Global Climate Research
Program (USGCRP). The methodology presented here involves the decomposition of the observed relative
mean sea level data and their computed trends. It is recognized that the long-term sea level time series
observed at tide stations contains a component due to oceanography and a component due to VLM. The
oceanographic signal is not completely described by a simple global sea level trend estimate.
The purpose of the methodology is to provide a more accurate estimation of local VLM at tide stations
with 30-60 years of data rather than just simply subtracting the estimated global sea level trend of
1.7mm/yr from the observed relative mean sea level trend. Relative sea level trends calculated from
shorter data periods are more likely to be affected by anomalously high or low oceanographic levels at the
beginning or end of their series. By removing the regional oceanographic variability as calculated based on
longer-period stations, both more accurate and more precise estimates of land motion are possible at
shorter-period stations. (NOAA, Chris Zervas, Stephen Gill, William Sweet, Estimating Vertical Land Motion
from Long-Term Tide Gauge Records, May 2013, Technical Report NOS CO-OPS 065)
Quantifying recent acceleration in sea level unrelated to internal climate variability: Sea level
observations suggest that the rate of sea level rise has accelerated during the last 20 years. However, the
presence of considerable decadal-scale variability, especially on a regional scale, makes it difficult to
assess whether the observed changes are due to natural or anthropogenic causes. Here we use a
regression model with atmospheric pressure, wind, and climate indices as independent variables to
quantify the contribution of internal climate variability to the sea level at nine tide gauges from around
the world for the period 1920–2011. Removing this contribution reveals a statistically significant
acceleration (0.022 ± 0.015 mm/yr2) between 1952 and 2011, which is unique over the whole period.
Furthermore, we have found that the acceleration is increasing over time. This acceleration appears to be
the result of increasing greenhouse gas concentrations, along with changes in volcanic forcing and
tropospheric aerosol loading. (Calafat, F. M., and D. P. Chambers (2013), Quantifying recent acceleration in
sea level unrelated to internal climate variability, Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, doi:10.1002/grl.50731)
Vulnerability of terrestrial island vertebrates to projected sea-level rise: Sea-level rise (SLR) from global
warming may have severe consequences for biodiversity; however, a baseline, broad-scale assessment of
the potential consequences of SLR for island biodiversity is lacking. Here, researchers quantify area loss for
over 12,900 islands and over 3,000 terrestrial vertebrates in the Pacific and Southeast Asia under three
different SLR scenarios (1 m, 3 m and 6 m). Very fine-grained elevation information is used, which offered
>100 times greater spatial detail than previous analyses and allowed the evaluation of thousands of
hitherto not assessed small islands. Depending on the SLR scenario, it is estimated that 15–62% of islands
in the study region will be completely inundated and 19–24% will lose 50–99% of their area. Overall, it is
projected that between 1% and 9% of the total island area in the study region may be lost. Researchers
find that Pacific species are 2–3 times more vulnerable than those in the Indomalayan or Australasian
region and risk losing 4–22% of range area (1–6 m SLR). Species already listed as threatened by IUCN are
particularly vulnerable compared with non-threatened species. Under a simple area loss–species loss
proportionality assumption, we estimate that 37 island group endemic species in this region risk complete
inundation of their current global distribution in the 1 m SLR scenario that is widely anticipated for this
century (and 118 species under 3 m SLR). Our analysis provides a first, broad-scale estimate of the
potential consequences of SLR for island biodiversity and our findings confirm that islands are extremely
vulnerable to sea-level rise even within this century. (Wetzel, F. T., Beissmann, H., Penn, D. J. and Jetz, W.
(2013), Vulnerability of terrestrial island vertebrates to projected sea-level rise. Global Change Biology, 19:
2058–2070. doi: 10.1111/gcb.12185)
The response of mangrove soil surface elevation to sea level rise: Recent evidence based on
measurements using the Surface-Elevation Table – Marker Horizon methodology (from studies published
between 2006 and 2011) suggest that mangrove surfaces are rising at similar rates to sea level in a
number of locations. However, surface elevation change measurements are available for a relatively small
number of sites, and most records span short time periods. Longer term mangrove surface elevation
datasets are needed from more locations, and these need to be analysed relative to sea level changes
over the same periods of measurement. (McIvor, A.L., Spencer, T., Möller, I. and Spalding. M. (2013) The
response of mangrove soil surface elevation to sea level rise. Natural Coastal Protection Series: Report 3.
Cambridge Coastal Research Unit Working Paper 42. Published by The Nature Conservancy and Wetlands
International. 59 pages. ISSN 2050-7941)
Related paper: Surface Elevation Change and Susceptibility of Different Mangrove Zones to SeaLevel Rise on Pacific High Islands of Micronesia: In this study, researchers investigated
sedimentation and elevation dynamics of mangrove forests in three hydrogeomorphic settings on
the islands of Kosrae and Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM)…. Although mangrove
forests in Micronesian high islands appear to have a strong capacity to offset elevation losses by
way of sedimentation, elevation change over 60 years ranged from - 3.2 to 4.1 mm y-1 , depending
on the location. Mangrove surface elevation change also varied by hydrogeomorphic setting and
river, and suggested differential, and not uniformly bleak, susceptibilities among Pacific high island
mangroves to sea-level rise…. Although natural disturbances are important in mediating elevation
gain in some situations, constant allochthonous sediment deposition probably matters most on
these Pacific high islands, and is especially helpful in certain hydrogeomorphic zones. Fringe
mangrove forests are most susceptible to sea-level rise, such that protection of these outer zones
from anthropogenic disturbances (for example, harvesting) may slow the rate at which these zones
convert to open water. (Krauss et al., Ecosystems (2010) 13: 129–143, DOI: 10.1007/s10021-0099307-8)
The multimillennial sea-level commitment of global warming: Global mean sea level has been steadily
rising over the last century, is projected to increase by the end of this century, and will continue to rise
beyond the year 2100 unless the current global mean temperature trend is reversed. Inertia in the climate
and global carbon system, however, causes the global mean temperature to decline slowly even after
greenhouse gas emissions have ceased, raising the question of how much sea-level commitment is
expected for different levels of global mean temperature increase above preindustrial levels. Although
sea-level rise over the last century has been dominated by ocean warming and loss of glaciers, the
sensitivity suggested from records of past sea levels indicates important contributions should also be
expected from the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets. Uncertainties in the paleo-reconstructions,
however, necessitate additional strategies to better constrain the sea-level commitment. Here researchers
combine paleo-evidence with simulations from physical models to estimate the future sea-level
commitment on a multimillennial time scale and compute associated regional sea-level patterns. Oceanic
thermal expansion and the Antarctic Ice Sheet contribute quasi-linearly, with 0.4 m °C−1 and 1.2 m °C−1 of
warming, respectively. The saturation of the contribution from glaciers is overcompensated by the
nonlinear response of the Greenland Ice Sheet. As a consequence we are committed to a sea-level rise of
approximately 2.3 m per °C within the next 2,000 y (depicted in the figure, below). Considering the
lifetime of anthropogenic greenhouse gases, this imposes the need for fundamental adaptation strategies
on multicentennial time scales. (Levermann et al., PNAS 2013 ; published ahead of print July 29, 2013,
doi:10.1073/pnas.1312464110)
Figure from Levermann et al, above, Regional patterns of sea-level change (meters) computed using an
isostatic surface loading model for scenarios of 1, 2, 3, and 4 °C of warming. These results are based on the
assumption that ice thinning was uniform over the ice sheets and progressed linearly for 2,000 years.
Mass-induced sea level change in the northwestern North Pacific and its contribution to total sea level
change: Over the period 2003–2011, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite pair
revealed a remarkable variability in mass-induced sea surface height (MSSH) in the northwestern North
Pacific. A significant correlation is found between MSSH and observed total sea surface height (SSH),
indicative of the importance of barotropic variability in this region. For the period 2003–2011, MSSH rose
at a rate of 6.1 ± 0.7 mm/yr, which has a significant contribution to the SSH rise (8.3 ± 0.7 mm/yr). Analysis
of the barotropic vorticity equation based on National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National
Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis product, GRACE, and altimetry data suggests that the MSSH
signal is primarily caused by negative wind stress curl associated with an anomalous anticyclonic
atmospheric circulation. Regression analysis indicates that trends in MSSH and surface wind are related to
the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, whose index had a decreasing trend in the last decade. (Cheng, X., L. Li, Y.
Du, J. Wang, and R.-X. Huang (2013), Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, doi:10.1002/grl.50748)
Coastal habitats shield people and property from sea-level rise and storms: Extreme weather, sea-level
rise and degraded coastal ecosystems are placing people and property at greater risk of damage from
coastal hazards. The likelihood and magnitude of losses may be reduced by intact reefs and coastal
vegetation, especially when those habitats fringe vulnerable communities and infrastructure. Using five
sea-level-rise scenarios, researchers calculated a hazard index for every 1 km2 of the United States
coastline. This index is used to identify the most vulnerable people and property as indicated by being in
the upper quartile of hazard for the nation’s coastline. The number of people, poor families, elderly and
total value of residential property that are most exposed to hazards can be reduced by half if existing
coastal habitats remain fully intact. Coastal habitats defend the greatest number of people and total
property value in Florida, New York and California. The analyses deliver the first national map of risk
reduction owing to natural habitats (shown below) and indicates where conservation and restoration of
reefs and vegetation have the greatest potential to protect coastal communities. (Arkema et al., Coastal
habitats shield people and property from sea-level rise and storms, Nature Clim. Change, 2013/07/14
advance online publication, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1944
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LCC Announcements
A new national Landscape Conservation Cooperative website is now LIVE!
http://lccnetwork.org/
The U.S. Institute of Environmental Conflict Negotiation (U.S. Institute) announces the convening of the
Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCC) National Council: The LCC National Council will support the
cooperative, large-scale conservation efforts of the LCC Network by working with them to enhance
coordination among the LCCs and to identify ecological and institutional challenges such as climate change
and other landscape-scale stressors that should be addressed on the national and international scale.
Serving as the national voice for the LCC network, the Council will seek to support actions that can be
taken at the national level to facilitate the work of the cooperatives. The LCC National Council will support
all self-directed LCCs and their diverse individual missions, some of which include cultural resources. Once
established, the LCC National Council will establish operations and implementation frameworks as
needed.
The U.S. Institute and the LCC National Strategy Team are now accepting applications for individuals to
represent their organizations on the Council. See www.lccnetwork.org for information about federal,
state, major partnership and LCC membership selection.
_________________________________________________________________
New Climate Report
NOAA Announces Monthly Drought Outlook Product: Issued the last day of each month, this product
shows where drought is likely to set in, persist or worsen, improve, or end over the next month. The
monthly drought outlook complements the weekly drought condition updates via the U.S. Drought
Monitor. This new product will better capture the rapid onset of drought and drought improvement information needed by many stakeholders, especially farmers and ranchers who may need timely and
accurate information to make short-term decisions during growing season. To see the most recent
drought outlook for the month of July, please visit this site. For more information, please visit this site.
Other Reports and Services:
The Office of the Washington State Climatologist issues a monthly newsletter that summarizes the WA
climate for the previous month, includes a precipitation and temperature outlook, and also includes a
brief summary of an interesting aspect of the weather or climate of WA, among a few other sections: See
www.climate.washington.edu/newsletter for copies and to join the listserv.
PNW Climate Outlook: This quarterly report from the Pacific Northwest Climate Impacts Research
Consortium (CIRC) provides a seasonal wrap up of relevant regional issues along with an outlook for the
coming season in Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Western Montana. To subscribe send an email to John
Stevenson.
Great Basin Weather and Climate Dashboard: this website provides up to date climate and weather data
and forecasts/outlooks for the Great Basin including temperature, precipitation, drought, snowpack and
hydrologic information. (Some of the information includes the entire western U.S.) The Dashboard is a
joint effort amongst the Western Regional Climate Center, California and Nevada Applications Program,
the USDA Farm Service Agency and the Great Basin LCC.
NOAA Climate Connection E-Newsletter: Free monthly e-newsletter designed to increase climate literacy
and communication capacity for NOAA and its partners. Subscription requests can be sent to
NOAAClimateConnection@noaa.gov. Click here to view the June 2013 NOAA Climate Connection enewsletter.
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Climate Change (General) Journal Articles/Publications/News
[For FWS Employees- Click here for the entire FWS R1 SharePoint Climate Change Library]
Ice-Free North Pole by 2054-58? (Reducing emissions can mitigate this projection.) A new paper
addresses the specter of a September ice-free Arctic in the 21st century using newly available simulations
from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). We find that large spread in the
projected timing of the September ice-free Arctic in 30 CMIP5 models is associated at least as much with
different atmospheric model components as with initial conditions. Here we reduce the spread in the
timing of an ice-free state using two different approaches for the 30 CMIP5 models: (i) model selection
based on the ability to reproduce the observed sea ice climatology and variability since 1979 and (ii)
constrained estimation based on the strong and persistent relationship between present and future sea
ice conditions. Results from the two approaches show good agreement. Under a high-emission scenario
both approaches project that September ice extent will drop to ∼1.7 million km2 in the mid-2040s and
reach the ice-free state (defined as 1 million km2) in 2054–2058. Under a medium-mitigation scenario,
both approaches project a decrease to ∼1.7 million km2 in the early 2060s, followed by a leveling off in the
ice extent. (Liu et al., 2013, Reducing spread in climate model projections of a September ice-free Arctic,
PNAS, Published online before print July 15, 2013, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1219716110)
Coastal Antarctic Permafrost Melting Faster Than Expected: For the first time, scientists have
documented an acceleration in the melt rate of permafrost, or ground ice, in a section of Antarctica where
the ice had been considered stable. The melt rates are comparable with the Arctic, where accelerated
melting of permafrost has become a regularly recurring phenomenon, and the change could offer a
preview of melting permafrost in other parts of a warming Antarctic continent. Rising temperatures do
not account for the increased melting in these areas which overall, have experienced a well-documented
cooling trend from 1986 to 2000, followed by stabilized temperatures to the present. Rather, researchers
attribute the melting to an increase in radiation from sunlight stemming from changes in weather patterns
that have resulted in an increase in the amount of sunlight reaching the ground. (Levy, J.S. et al., 2013,
Accelerated thermokarst formation in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, Scientific Reports 3, Article
number: 2269, July 24, 2013, doi:10.1038/srep02269)
Climate change- Forecast for 2018 is Cloudy with Record Heat. Efforts
to predict the near-term climate are taking off, but their record so far has been patchy. Many prominent
scientists question both the results and the utility of what is, by all accounts, an expensive and timeconsuming exercise…. Others believe that although the prediction experiments show limited forecasting
skill at the moment, these exercises can help improve the models. (Tollefson, Nature [News Feature] July
11, Vol 499, pp139-141)
History of Pacific Northwest heat waves: Synoptic pattern and trends. A historical record of Pacific
Northwest (defined here as west of the Cascade Mountains in Washington and Oregon) heat waves is
identified using the U.S. Historical Climate Network, version 2, daily data (1901–2009). Both daytime and
nighttime events are examined, defining a heat wave as three consecutive days above the 99th percentile
for the maximum and minimum temperature anomalies separately. Although the synoptic characteristics
of the daytime and nighttime heat events are similar, they do indicate some differences between the two
types of events. Most notable is a stronger influence of downslope warming over the Cascade Mountains
for the daytime events versus a more important role of precipitable water content for the nighttime
events, presumably through its impact on downward longwave radiative fluxes. Current research suggests
that the frequency and duration of heat waves are expected to increase in much of the United States, and
analysis of the heat events reveals that a significant, increasing trend in the frequency of the nighttime
events is already occurring in the Pacific Northwest. A heat wave occurred in 2009 that set all-time-record
maximum temperatures in many locations and ranked as the second strongest daytime event and the
longest nighttime event in the record. (Bumbaco, K.A., K.D. Dello, and N.A. Bond, 2013: J. Appl. Meteorl.
Climatol. e-View doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-12-094.1)
Explore Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation by Region or Sector on EPA's Climate Change Website
The changing climate impacts society and ecosystems in a broad variety of ways. For example, climate
change can increase or decrease rainfall, influence agricultural crop yields, affect human health, cause
changes to forests and other ecosystems, or even impact the nation's energy supply. Climate-related
impacts are occurring across regions of the country and across many sectors of the U.S. economy. EPA's
Climate Change website provides relevant resources to those interested in learning more about expected
climate change impacts and adaptation options. More specifically, the website lists impacts from climate
change and adaptation efforts by region or sector. The website also provides a number of resources to
assist public officials and others with climate change adaptation planning. To access EPA's Climate Change
website, please visit: http://epa.gov/climatechange/impacts-adaptation/index.html.
A spatiotemporal analysis of U.S. station temperature trends over the last century: This study presents a
nonlinear spatiotemporal analysis of 1167 station temperature records from the United States Historical
Climatology Network covering the period from 1898 through 2008. We use the empirical mode
decomposition method to extract the generally nonlinear trends of each station. The statistical
significance of each trend is assessed against three null models of the background climate variability,
represented by stochastic processes of increasing temporal correlation length. We find strong evidence
that more than 50% of all stations experienced a significant trend over the last century with respect to all
three null models. A spatiotemporal analysis reveals a significant cooling trend in the South-East and
significant warming trends in the rest of the contiguous U.S. It also shows that the warming trend appears
to have migrated equatorward. This shows the complex spatiotemporal evolution of climate change at
local scales. (Capparelli et al., Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Volume 118, Issue 11, 16
June 2013Accepted Online: 7 JUN 2013, Published Online : 16 JUL 2013 11:29AM EST, DOI :
10.1002/jgrd.50551)
Figure from Capparelli et al: Geographical distribution of the slopes of the (empirical mode decomposition
method) annual mean temperature trend from 1898 through 2008 for stations with a significant trend
(filled circles) and not significant trend (open circles) against all null models.
East Antarctica's Ice Sheet Not as Stable as Thought: Warm intervals within the Pliocene epoch (5.33–
2.58 million years ago) were characterized by global temperatures comparable to those predicted for the
end of this century and atmospheric CO2 concentrations similar to today. Estimates for global sea level
highstands during these times imply possible retreat of the East Antarctic ice sheet, but ice-proximal
evidence from the Antarctic margin is scarce. Here researchers present new data from Pliocene marine
sediments recovered offshore of Adélie Land, East Antarctica, that reveal dynamic behaviour of the East
Antarctic ice sheet in the vicinity of the low-lying Wilkes Subglacial Basin during times of past climatic
warmth. Sedimentary sequences deposited between 5.3 and 3.3 million years ago indicate increases in
Southern Ocean surface water productivity, associated with elevated circum-Antarctic temperatures. The
geochemical provenance of detrital material deposited during these warm intervals suggests active
erosion of continental bedrock from within the Wilkes Subglacial Basin, an area today buried beneath the
East Antarctic ice sheet. This erosion is interpreted to be associated with retreat of the ice sheet margin
several hundreds of kilometres inland and thus, researchers conclude that the East Antarctic ice sheet was
sensitive to climatic warmth during the Pliocene. (Cook et al., Nature Geoscience (published online July 21,
2013), doi:10.1038/ngeo1889)
Evaluation of cryo-hydrologic warming as an explanation for increased ice velocities in the wet snow
zone, Sermeq Avannarleq, West Greenland: Previous studies estimated that it would take centuries to
millennia for new climates to increase the temperature deep within ice sheets. But when the influence of
meltwater is considered, warming can occur within decades and, thus, produce rapid accelerations.
(Phillips et al., July 16, 2013, accepted for publication in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth
Surface)
_________________________________________________________________
Greenhouse Gases/Emissions/Reductions
Revising China’s Environmental Law: China’s Environmental Protection Law is its main national
environmental legislative framework. Yet the environmental legal system is incomplete, and
implementation and enforcement of environmental laws have shown major shortcomings. A controversial
attempt to revise the law could have far-reaching impacts on China’s economic development and
environmental protection, which may have global implications. Increasing pressures to strengthen the rule
of law in China raise the stakes. The authors discuss the need for a sound legal and scientific basis for
revising the law. (He et al., Science (Policy Forum), Vol 34, July 12, 2013)
Allowable carbon emissions lowered by multiple climate targets: Climate targets are designed to inform
policies that would limit the magnitude and impacts of climate change caused by anthropogenic emissions
of greenhouse gases and other substances. The target that is currently recognized by most world
governments places a limit of two degrees Celsius on the global mean warming since preindustrial times.
This would require large sustained reductions in carbon dioxide emissions during the twenty-first century
and beyond. Such a global temperature target, however, is not sufficient to control many other quantities,
such as transient sea level rise, ocean acidification, net primary production on land, and extreme events
such as flooding and droughts. (Steinacher et al., Nature [News Feature] July 11, Vol 499,
doi:10.1038/nature12269)
Antifreeze, cheap materials may lead to low-cost solar energy: Engineers at Oregon State University have
determined that ethylene glycol, commonly used in antifreeze products, can be a low-cost solvent that
functions well in a “continuous flow” reactor – an approach to making thin-film solar cells that is easily
scaled up for mass production at industrial levels. The research, just published in Material Letters, also
concluded this approach will work with CZTS, or copper zinc tin sulfide, a compound of significant interest
for solar cells due to its excellent optical properties and the fact these materials are cheap and
environmentally benign. By contrast, many solar cells today are made with CIGS, or copper indium gallium
diselenide. Indium is comparatively rare and costly, and mostly produced in China. Last year, the prices of
indium and gallium used in CIGS solar cells were about 275 times higher than the zinc used in CZTS cells.
Reducing Emissions Also Boosts Human Health: A new study links heavy air pollution from coal burning to
shorter lives in northern China. Researchers estimate that the half-billion people alive there in the 1990s
will live an average of 5½ years less than their southern counterparts because they breathed dirtier air.
Read more…
Peak Oil and Energy Independence: Myth and Reality Global production of crude oil and other
hydrocarbons which generally can be used as transport fuels has essentially remained on a plateau of
about 75 million barrels per day since 2005 despite large price increases. (While production from new
sources, including unconventional ones, has ramped up, production from older existing fields has
declined.) The authors suggest that supply is therefore no longer able to match demand due to both
economic and geologic/supply reasons; and the production of CO2 from oil consumption in many of the
IPCC CO2 scenarios has probably been overestimated. (Murray and Hansen, Eos, Vol. 94, No. 28, 9 July
2013)
Secretary Jewell Announces Approval of Three Renewable Energy Projects in Arizona and Nevada
As part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to expand domestic energy production,
Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced on June 3rd the approval of three major renewable
energy projects that, when built, are expected to deliver up to 520 megawatts to the electricity grid –
enough to power nearly 200,000 homes – and help support more than 900 jobs through construction and
operations. According to Secretary Jewell, “These projects reflect the Obama’s Administration’s
commitment to expand responsible domestic energy production on our public lands and diversify our
nation’s energy portfolio.”
New Energy Efficiency Standards for Microwave Ovens Will Save Consumers on Energy Bills
U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz announced on May 31st that the Energy Department has finalized new
energy efficiency standards for microwave ovens. These efficiency standards, which will go into effect
starting in 2016, will save consumers nearly $3 billion on their energy bills through 2030. Over the next 30
years, energy savings resulting from those standards will dramatically reduce harmful carbon pollution,
equivalent to taking over 12 million new cars off the road for one year.
Maine Project Launches First Grid-Connected Offshore Wind Turbine in the U.S.
On May 31st, the Energy Department recognized the nation’s first grid-connected offshore floating wind
turbine prototype off the coast of Castine, Maine. Led by the University of Maine and supported by a fiveyear investment of $12 million from the Energy Department, this project represents the first concretecomposite floating platform wind turbine to be deployed in the world – strengthening American
leadership in innovative clean energy technologies that diversify the nation’s energy mix with more clean,
domestic energy sources.
A Smokestack's Hidden Treasure: The CO2-ridden plumes rising from industrial smokestacks and power
plants may be warming the planet, but they could also be a new source of electrical power. Researchers
have developed a two-stage process to harvest some of the chemical energy in carbon dioxide emissions,
using a device called a capacitive electrochemical cell…. By tapping into existing carbon dioxide emissions
from coal- and gas-fired power plants, industrial smokestacks, and residential heating worldwide, the new
process could generate about 1570 terawatt-hours of power each year—about 400 times that produced
by Hoover Dam, all without adding to global carbon dioxide emissions. (ScienceNow, July 23, 2013)
_________________________________________________________________
Regional Climate Services, Reports and Newsletters
The Office of the Washington State Climatologist issues a monthly newsletter that summarizes the WA
climate for the previous month, includes a precipitation and temperature outlook, and also includes a brief
summary of an interesting aspect of the weather or climate of WA, among a few other sections: See
www.climate.washington.edu/newsletter for copies and to join the listserv.
PNW Climate Outlook: This quarterly report from the Pacific Northwest Climate Impacts Research Consortium
(CIRC) provides a seasonal wrap up of relevant regional issues along with an outlook for the coming season in
Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Western Montana. To subscribe send an email to John Stevenson.
Great Basin Weather and Climate Dashboard: this website provides up to date climate and weather data and
forecasts/outlooks for the Great Basin including temperature, precipitation, drought, snowpack and
hydrologic information. (Some of the information includes the entire western U.S.) The Dashboard is a joint
effort amongst the Western Regional Climate Center, California and Nevada Applications Program, the USDA
Farm Service Agency and the Great Basin LCC.
NOAA Climate Connection E-Newsletter: Free monthly e-newsletter designed to increase climate literacy and
communication capacity for NOAA and its partners. Subscription requests can be sent to
NOAAClimateConnection@noaa.gov. Click here to view the June 2013 NOAA Climate Connection enewsletter.
_________________________________________________________________
List Servers
NCTC Climate Change List server (upcoming webinars and courses): send an email to Danielle Larock at
danielle_larock@fws.gov LCC list servers (see your LCC’s website) OneNOAA Science Webinars EPA Climate
Change and Water E-Newsletter Climate CIRCulator (Oregon Climate Change Research Institute) Climate
Impacts Group (Univ. Washington) US Forest Service Fish & Wildlife Research Updates
FWS Resources and Tools
FWS Pacific Region employees can access journal articles and publications archived at the Region’s Climate
Change Sharepoint site (links below). The Region's Climate Change Science Synthesis document uses these
new findings. (The blog is used to highlight changes made to the document.)
> Home Page
> Read this report in Word/Find previous reports
> Document library (journal articles, reports, etc., updated weekly)
> Best available climate change science-- R1 synthesis (updated weekly)
> Blog (provides updates on new journal articles, R1 examples on use of climate science in decision
making, etc.)
> Use of Climate science: Regional examples
FWS Climate Change Response: How do partnership efforts such as Landscape Conservation Cooperatives
and the National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy fit into the Service's overall
response to accelerating climate change? How is our agency reducing its carbon footprint? What is our
agency doing now to reduce the impacts of climate change on fish, wildlife and plants? Learn more
Landscape Conservation Cooperatives: Natural systems and landscapes are impacted by increasing land
use pressures and widespread resource threats amplified by a rapidly changing climate. These changes are
occurring at an unprecedented pace and scale. By leveraging resources and strategically targeting science
to inform conservation decisions and actions, Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) are a network
of partnerships working in unison to ensure the sustainability of America’s land, water, wildlife, and
cultural resources. Learn more
National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy: The National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants
Climate Adaptation Strategy will provide a unified approach—reflecting shared principles and sciencebased practices—for reducing the negative impacts of climate change on fish, wildlife, plants, habitats and
associated ecological processes across geographic scales. Learn more
FWS Climate Change Information Toolkit: A key part of the Service's climate change strategy is to inform
FWS staff about the impacts of accelerating climate change and to engage partners and others in seeking
collaborative solutions. Through shared knowledge and communication, we can work together to reduce
the impacts of climate change on fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats. Here are some resources that
can help.
Climate Change, Wildlife, and Wildlands Toolkit: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in
partnership with the National Park Service and with input from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
developed a kit for use when talking with the public about how climate change is affecting our nation's
wildlife and public lands. Learn more .
Safeguarding Wildlife from Climate Change Web Conference Series: The FWS and National Wildlife
Federation have developed a series of web conferences to increase communication and transfer of
technical information between conservation professionals regarding the growing challenges of climate
change. Learn more
(FWS employees only)
NCTC Climate Change Resource Library: The NCTC Climate Change Resource Library provides selected
citations to peer-reviewed journal articles, documents, books, theses, presentations, and Websites on the
effect of climate change on North American fish, wildlife and habitats. FWS employees can access the
library here
For more information on how the Service is working with others to conserve the nature of America in a
changing climate, visit http://www.fws.gov/home/climatechange/