Assessing Climate Change Vulnerability of Breeding Birds in Arctic ...

Figure 1.3. (Upper Panel) Mean annual precipitationfor the Arctic LCC region (mm) and (Lower Panel)change in the mean annual precipitation in mm (left)and in % change (right) projected for 2040-2069.Maps created by WCS using CRU historical climatedata and 5-Model Composite– A1B projections(SNAP 2011).eons, both at the physiological andbehavioral level (Parmesan 2006), the speedwith which the climate is currently changingmay preclude adaptation in many species(Visser 2008).The combination of this rapid pace ofclimate change with increasing humanimpacts could lead to accelerated rates ofextinction for many species (IPCC 2007).Wildlife managers and conservationists willrequire additional kinds of information tomake decisions about their goals for wildlifepopulations in changing conditions andabout the consistency of land uses and otherpolicy choices with these goals. As such,explicitly addressing climate changeimpacts, often called “climate changeadaptation”, is becoming an important newapproach in natural resource management(Glick et al. 2011).Federal and state agencies have recentlyestablished programs with a mandate tomanage wildlife with respect to climatechange. The Department of Interior-led -Landscape Conservation Cooperatives(LCCs) and U.S. Geological Survey -Climate Science Centers (CSCs) are chargedwith integrating federal agency and partnerscience and management expertise in acoordinated response to climate change andother landscape-scale stressors in manyregions. A specific goal of the Arctic LCCcharter is to develop “effective conservationplanning dependent on knowledge of the5