Vulnerability to climate change in Igloolik, Nunavut: what we can learn from the past and present

Significant and rapid climate change is predicted for Arctic regions. These changes are expected to have implications for indigenous communities. This paper argues that the starting point to understand how future climate change may affect communities is analysis of past and present experience of, and response to, climate variability and change. Using a vulnerability approach, the paper provides an historical account of changing vulnerability to climate-related risks among Inuit in Igloolik, Nunavut. The research demonstrates that Inuit in Igloolik have been highly adaptable in the face of climatic stresses. This adaptability has historically been facilitated by traditional Inuit knowledge, resource use flexibility and diversity, group mobility, and strong social networks. However, societal changes, and more recently biophysical changes, have increased the susceptibility of people to climatic risks and have undermined certain aspects of adaptive capacity. The research indicates that the implications of future climate change will be influenced by the interaction between biophysical and societal changes, will vary over time in response to forces internal and external to the community, and will be differentiated among social groups.

Download Full-text

Future climate change vulnerability of endemic island mammals

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-020-18740-x ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Camille Leclerc ◽

Franck Courchamp ◽

Céline Bellard

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Pacific Ocean ◽

Adaptive Capacity ◽

Climate Change Impacts ◽

Future Climate ◽

Future Climate Change ◽

Climate Change Vulnerability ◽

Vulnerability To Climate Change ◽

Insular Ecosystems

Abstract Despite their high vulnerability, insular ecosystems have been largely ignored in climate change assessments, and when they are investigated, studies tend to focus on exposure to threats instead of vulnerability. The present study examines climate change vulnerability of islands, focusing on endemic mammals and by 2050 (RCPs 6.0 and 8.5), using trait-based and quantitative-vulnerability frameworks that take into account exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. Our results suggest that all islands and archipelagos show a certain level of vulnerability to future climate change, that is typically more important in Pacific Ocean ones. Among the drivers of vulnerability to climate change, exposure was rarely the main one and did not explain the pattern of vulnerability. In addition, endemic mammals with long generation lengths and high dietary specializations are predicted to be the most vulnerable to climate change. Our findings highlight the importance of exploring islands vulnerability to identify the highest climate change impacts and to avoid the extinction of unique biodiversity.

Download Full-text

Future climate change promotes novel gene-climate associations in balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera L.), a forest tree species

10.1101/2020.02.28.961060 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Andrew V. Gougherty ◽

Stephen R. Keller ◽

Vikram E. Chhatre ◽

Matthew C. Fitzpatrick

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Local Adaptation ◽

Tree Species ◽

Population Level ◽

Future Climate ◽

Future Climate Change ◽

Populus Balsamifera ◽

Balsam Poplar ◽

Novel Gene ◽

Vulnerability To Climate Change

ABSTRACTA central challenge to predicting climate change effects on biodiversity is integrating information on intraspecific variation, specifically population-level local adaptation to climate. Assessing how climate change could disrupt local adaptation to climate can provide a new way of understanding population risk and vulnerability to climate change. For the wide-ranging boreal tree species, balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera L.), we used models of existing population-level genetic differentiation to estimate three key components of population’s vulnerability to climate change: (1) predicted shifts in genetic composition with and without migration, (2) the potential for future novel gene-climate associations, and (3) the distance populations would need to migrate to minimize future maladaptation. When assessed across the range of balsam poplar, these three metrics suggest that vulnerability to climate change is greatest in the eastern portion of balsam poplar’s range, where future maladaptation peaked, migration distances to sites that minimized maladaptation were greatest, and the emergence of novel gene-climate associations were highest. Our results further suggest greater maladaptation to climate when migration distances were limited – consistent with the possibility of migration to lessen maladaptation to future climate. Our work provides a comprehensive evaluation of population’s vulnerability to climate change by simultaneously assessing population maladaptation to future climate and the distances populations would need to migrate to minimize maladaptation, in a way that goes beyond species-level bioclimatic modelling. In doing so, our work helps advance towards the long-held goal of incorporating genomic information in models of species responses to climate change.

Download Full-text

Conservation Status of North American Birds in the Face of Future Climate Change

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0135350 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. e0135350 ◽

Cited By ~ 51

Author(s):

Gary M. Langham ◽

Justin G. Schuetz ◽

Trisha Distler ◽

Candan U. Soykan ◽

Chad Wilsey

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

North American ◽

Conservation Status ◽

Future Climate ◽

Future Climate Change ◽

The Face

Download Full-text

Managing global heritage in the face of future climate change: the importance of understanding geological and geomorphological processes and hazards

International Journal of Heritage Studies ◽

10.1080/13527258.2012.681680 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 19 (7) ◽

pp. 632-658 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Andy J. Howard

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Future Climate ◽

Future Climate Change ◽

The Face ◽

Geomorphological Processes

Download Full-text

An investigation of farm-scale adaptation options for cotton production in the face of future climate change and water allocation policies in southern Queensland, Australia

Agricultural Water Management ◽

10.1016/j.agwat.2017.10.026 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 196 ◽

pp. 124-132 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Allyson Williams ◽

Shahbaz Mushtaq ◽

Louis Kouadio ◽

Brendan Power ◽

Torben Marcussen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Water Allocation ◽

Future Climate ◽

Future Climate Change ◽

Cotton Production ◽

Scale Adaptation ◽

The Face ◽

Farm Scale ◽

Adaptation Options

Download Full-text

SUMMER IN THE CITY: BEING OUT AND ABOUT IN THE FACE OF FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igx004.2421 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 1 (suppl_1) ◽

pp. 679-679

Author(s):

S.G. Penger ◽

F. Oswald ◽

K. Conrad ◽

S. Siedentop ◽

D. Wittowsky

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Future Climate ◽

Future Climate Change ◽

The Face ◽

The City

Download Full-text

Opinions on strategies for forest adaptation to future climate conditions in western Canada: surveys of the general public and leaders of forest-dependent communities

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/cjfr-2014-0142 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 44 (12) ◽

pp. 1525-1533 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Reem Hajjar ◽

Erin McGuigan ◽

Molly Moshofsky ◽

Robert A. Kozak

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

General Public ◽

Management Practices ◽

Genetically Engineered ◽

Future Climate ◽

Future Climate Change ◽

Climate Conditions ◽

Adequate Understanding ◽

The Face ◽

Natural Range

Two province-wide surveys of residents in Alberta and British Columbia were conducted to assess the acceptability of a range of reforestation strategies — many of which revolve around biotechnology — that could be used to aid western Canada’s forests in adapting to future climate change. The opinions of leaders of forest-dependent communities were also sought to evaluate how well they align with those of the public at large. Results show that the views of the general public and community leaders correspond. There is a low acceptance for a “do-nothing” strategy that allows climate change to run its course without any human intervention; high acceptance of replanting with local seeds; a decreasing acceptance of strategies that involve more manipulation such as breeding, using nonlocal seeds, and moving seeds outside of a species’ natural range; and a low acceptance of genetically engineered solutions. However, a high proportion of respondents changed their answers when told that a particular strategy would lead to either favourable or unfavourable outcomes related to socioeconomics of forest-dependent communities, forest aesthetics, and pest, disease, and fire outbreaks. We conclude that a meaningful and participatory dialogue on forest adaptation strategies in the face of climate change can only emerge if residents and other interested stakeholders have an adequate understanding of current forest management practices, proposed reforestation strategies, the role of technological interventions, and the values and services for which western Canada’s forests are to be managed.

Download Full-text