Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 4.2
Credible assessments of the risks posed by climate change for the Australian
biota are key to devising effective strategies to increase resilience and ameliorate
negative impacts. The methods to assess such risks are diverse, including
extrapolation of known past changes, both in the paleorecord and over the
past few decades; modeling of potential changes in species distributions and
community structure based on current relationships between ranges and environ-
mental parameters; experimental manipulations both in the field and laboratory;
and examination of community composition along latitudinal and elevational
gradients. The messages these tools deliver are similarly wide ranging, but most
project profound changes to the structure and function of ecological commu-
nities in the future, with substantially increased risks of species loss and declining
ecosystem function.
