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Moving beyond the conceptual: specificity in regional climate change adaptation actions for biodiversity in South East Queensland, Australia

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Abstract

While many scientific assessments have been recommending general strategies for biodiversity conservation under climate change, translation of these recommendations into specific actions and practice has been limited. Focusing on two biomes, rainforest and wetlands in biodiverse South East Queensland, Australia, we demonstrate how general principles can be translated into specific actions for stakeholders and responsible agencies. We synthesize research that is contextualizing protection of refugia and habitat connectivity, establishing baseline data sets to detect change and developing strategic conservation planning scenarios to adjust reserve boundaries or situate new reserves. This has been achieved by coupling spatial information on biological assets (i.e. ecosystems and species) with future climate scenarios and process models to anticipate movement of critical habitats. Conservation planning software is also being used to prioritize investment to meet specific objectives. This approach is enabling us to identify at-risk biological assets, opportunities to ameliorate threats and obstacles to delivering regional adaptation actions. A larger total reserved area is needed, with proactive planning to capture areas further inland and along watercourses. Major obstacles include conflict between urbanization and priorities for habitat conservation and the need for greater levels of investment for monitoring programmes and to protect landward shifted wetlands on private land.

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Acknowledgments

This paper is part of the South East Queensland Climate Adaptation Research Initiative, a partnership between the Queensland and Australian Governments, the CSIRO Climate Adaptation National Research Flagship, Griffith University, University of the Sunshine Coast and University of Queensland. The Initiative aims to provide research knowledge to enable the region to adapt and prepare for the impacts of climate change. We thank two anonymous reviewers and guest editor Ryan McAllister for useful comments that improved the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Luke P. Shoo, Julian O’Mara, Karin Perhans, Rebecca K. Runting, Lochran W. Traill, Lui C. Weber, Kerrie A. Wilson & Catherine E. Lovelock

  2. School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Jonathan R. Rhodes & Rebecca K. Runting

  3. School of Agriculture and Food Science, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Susanne Schmidt

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  1. Luke P. Shoo
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  2. Julian O’Mara
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  9. Kerrie A. Wilson
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  10. Catherine E. Lovelock
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Correspondence to Luke P. Shoo.

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Shoo, L.P., O’Mara, J., Perhans, K. et al. Moving beyond the conceptual: specificity in regional climate change adaptation actions for biodiversity in South East Queensland, Australia. Reg Environ Change 14, 435–447 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-012-0385-3

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