Past, Present, and Future Climate Change: Can Palaeoecology Help Manage a Warming World? - Biodiversity Conservation and Environmental Change - page 115

help to integrate palaeoecology into the past-present-future continuum (Brewer et al.
2012, Gillson and Marchant 2014).
Expanding protected area networks and increasing their connectivity to accommodate
future climate space is only one facet of climate-change integrated conservation strategies
(Chapin III et al. 2010, Gillson et al. 2013). Integrated ecosystem management is needed that
encompasses the management of land both inside and outside of protected areas, and
includes sustainable ecosystem service provision through a cohesive approach to landscape
stewardship. Building resilience and maintaining ecosystem integrity in the face of interact-
ing climate and land-use change will require a range of strategies that integrate observations
from palaeoecology, neoecology, and experimental biology in order to develop and interdis-
ciplinary understanding of dynamics and long-term change (Dawson et al. 2011). Conserva-
tion approaches in a changing climate will need to be adaptive, flexible and cognisant of
societal needs; they will likely only succeed if they integrate human needs for ecosystem ser-
vices, sustainable supplies of natural resources and opportunities to benefit from and inter-
act with nature (see Chapters 6 and 7) (Kay et al. 1999, Chapin III et al. 2010, Wu 2012, 2013).

Box 5.1 Conservation in a changing climate

Conservation challenge: Predict and understand
the response of ecosystems to changing climate,
disturbance and other drivers, while retaining the
capacity to adapt to surprises, build resilience and
sustain ecosystem services.

better integration with neoecological frameworks
and conservation questions. Databases and model-
ling (hindcasting) and future scenarios will help to
bridge the past-present-future divide, while adap-
tive ecosystem management has the potential to
incorporate long-term perspectives in realistic goal
setting and management plans.

Palaeoecological challenge: Increase acces-
sibility and usefulness of palaeoecological data by