climate change: impacts, adaptation and mitigation in british woodlands dr. mike morecroft head of...
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Climate change: impacts, adaptation and mitigation in British woodlands Dr. Mike Morecroft Head of Climate Change, Natural England . Natural England. .....to ensure that the natural environment is conserved, enhanced and managed for the benefit of present and future generations... - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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Climate change: impacts, adaptation and mitigation in British woodlands
Dr. Mike Morecroft
Head of Climate Change, Natural England
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Natural England
.....to ensure that the natural environment is conserved, enhanced and managed for the benefit of present and future generations...
• Advice to government• Species and habitat protection• Incentives for environmental management• Management of nature reserves• Access to nature
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British Woodlands
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Woodland fragmentation & microclimate
GB Forest Cover: 13% (England 9%)
Fragmented
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Forest cover in Britain
• c. 80% land area before clearance• c. 50% Roman period• 5% by 1900• 13% at present
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Ancient Semi-Natural Woodlands
• Management history
• Continuity of forest cover since 1600
• c. 10% of woodland
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intensificationfragmentationhabitat loss (and gain)
agriculture
air pollution
Pressures on British forest ecosystems
climate change
development
invasive species
?
timedisease?
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Climate Change Impacts
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http://www.lwec.org.uk/resources/report-cards/biodiversity
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Climate change impacts on woodlands• Large scale relationships to temperature• England: change driven by extreme events• Summer drought more important than
temperature?• Drought sensitive trees: beech, birch,
sycamore• Ground flora resistant to change• Invertebrates (incl. pests) responsive to
change• Complex interactions
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Seasonal timing (phenology) is changing
Spring is coming earlier• Mean change 11.7 days (1976 – 2005)• 725 taxa across different groups• 83.8% of trends were advance
Thackeray et al. (2010)
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Hickling et al. 2006
-100
-50
0
50
100
150
Shift north-wardskm
Distributions are changingUK Animal Groups
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Indirect effects of climate change
• Changing forest management• Changes in agriculture• Changing catchment management• Carbon management• Renewable energy
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Climate Change mitigation
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Forests and climate change mitigation• UK woodland stores: c.790 MtC (640 MtC
soils and litter)• Sequestration: c.15 MtCO2 in 2007 (c. 3%
UK emissions)• Afforestation potential: 10% emissions by
2050 (16% forest cover)• Renewable fuel and materials
Read et al. (2009). Combating climate change – a role for UK forests. The Stationery Office, Edinburgh
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Semi-natural WoodlandsClimate change mitigation
• Increase woodland area• Bring more areas into active management• Dilemmas for conservation:• Which species? (Eucalyptus?)• Intensity of management• Potential for ‘win-win’
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Climate Change Adaptation
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Adaptation for conservation
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Adaptation
build resilience
accommodate change
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Resilience
• Reducing other threats• Larger areas of habitat / larger populations• Maximise heterogeneity in microclimate /
soils• Specific adaptations e.g. planting drought
tolerant species.
Morecroft et al. (2012) Resilience to climate change: translating principles into practice. Journal of Applied Ecology, 49: 547-551.
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Accommodating Change
• Flexibility in designations• Review approach to non-native species and
genotypes• Increased landscape permeability• Transplantation?
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enable persistence ---> accept change
resilience accommodation
Changing approach as the climate changes
1°C > 2°C > 3°C > 4°C
Resilience or accommodation?
---> promote transformation ?
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→Ecosystem based
adaptation
Conservation can help human societyto adapt to climate change
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Woodlands can...
• Contribute to flood and water resource management
• Prevent soil erosion • Provide shade or shelter for people and livestock
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New approach to land management?
• Landscape scale• Multiple benefits
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Wytham Woods• 400 ha• Mixture of ancient, secondary and
plantation woodland• Also grasslands and farmland• Owned by Oxford University • Long history of research
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Glensaugh
Sourhope
Porton
Wytham
North Wyke
Drayton
Y Wyddfa(Snowdon)
Rothamsted
Hillsborough Moor House - Upper Teesdale
15
14
17
1316
3
22
2
1079
6
5
4 811
1
1921
12
L
I
FJK
NOP
G
HB
C A
DE
M
18
Alice Holt25
2324
26
Cairngorms
20
Environmental Change Network• Detecting & understanding change
• Physical and biological monitoring
• Research links• Started 1992
See Morecroft et al (2009) Biological Conservation
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Yadvinder takes over.