Biodiversity & Climate Change
In order to develop policies to help nature
adapt to climate change, it’s important to try and predict how the
climate change will affect biodiversity.
A project called MONARCH has been set up to
bring different agencies together to predict the effects of climate
change on terrestrial habitats and species. At the cutting
edge of climate change research, MONARCH assesses which areas will
become suitable for different species as the climate changes, and
also tries to work out what other factors may help or block their
movement.
The Prince project is looking at the impact of
climate change on freshwater habitats.
A project led by DEFRA – the Department for Environment, Farming
and Rural Affairs - is looking at how climate change affects
inter-tidal habitats. This builds on the work already done by
the MarClim project.
Case study: Snowdonia
One example of the predicted effects of climate change on
biodiversity is the modelling work done as part of the Monarch
project on possible outcomes in Snowdonia.
This reinforced the threat to montane heath and upland heath
habitats as species spread from lower altitudes, dramatically
altering community composition.