Summary
Summary
This report card represents a first attempt at summarising current knowledge of climate change impacts on terrestrial and freshwater species and ecosystems, and identifies potential adaptation responses and knowledge gaps in Australia.
The potential impacts of climate change on terrestrial and freshwater systems in Australia are immense. We have already seen shifts of species distributions across elevational and latitudinal space, and this is expected to continue. Population losses and species extinctions are predicted, through a variety of direct (such as heat stress and drought) and indirect impacts (including phenological mismatch, pollinator loss, etc). Our World Heritage Areas and their associated biodiversity are at risk, and we can expect declines in ecosystem function in many areas.
While mitigation measures, in the form of a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, remain the front line strategy against the impacts of climate change, adaptation management actions need to be implemented now to minimise biodiversity loss and manage the ecological transformation we face.
- This report card is also downloadable as a PDF
- All references for this report are found under the References tab
Contributors
David Bowman; University of Tasmania
Kerry Bridle; Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture
Barry Brook; University of Adelaide
Samantha Capon; Griffith University
Lynda Chambers; Australian Bureau of Meteorology
Stephen Garnett; Charles Darwin University
Jean-Marc Hero; Griffith University
Lauren Hodgson; James Cook University
Ary Hoffmann; University of Melbourne
Lesley Hughes; Macquarie University
Joanne Isaac; James Cook University
Craig James; CSIRO
Roger Kitching; Griffith University
Andrew Lowe; University of Adelaide
Tara Martin; CSIRO
Nicola Mitchell; University of Western Australia
Elvira Poloczanska; CSIRO
Hugh Possingham; University of Queensland
Grant Wardell-Johnson; Curtin University
Dick Williams; CSIRO
Stephen Williams; James Cook University
Yvette Williams,; James Cook University
Colin Yates; Department of Parks and Wildlife (WA)
Reviewers:
Mark Stafford Smith - CSIRO
Alistair Hobday- CSIRO
Justin Welbergen – James Cook University