Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
The UKCIP and MONARCH reports are being used to underpin national policy.
In the UK, as in the USA, government-funded research is supported both by scientific
agencies (such as NERC, the semi-autonomous agency that distributes public money
for environmental research) and governmental departments such as DETR and now
its successor the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
The former DETR also had agencies to undertake environmental monitoring and
protection work and, of these, English Nature (which was integrated in 2006 with
the Countryside Agency) was responsible for wildlife and the Environment Agency
was responsible for waterways and coastal protection. UKCIP scenarios have alerted
the Environment Agency to the problem of winter flooding due to excessive rain
bursts becoming a chronic condition (see also Chapter 7), although flooding in the
late 1990s and at the beginning of the 21st century effectively ensured that the agency
would develop a long-term strategy. Some of the areas at specific risk are shown on
Figure 6.9. However, there are other impacts on society. As already seen in Chapter
5, there have been past climate change impacts on human activities and Chapter 7,
on human ecology, will look at likely future impacts.
One of the indicative ways in which climate change will affect UK natural systems
was discussed in 2005 at a symposium at Sussex University run jointly by the Royal
Horticultural Society, Forest Research and UKCIP, entitled 'Trees in a Changing
Climate'. There are some 4 billion trees in the UK. In summary, it was noted that
trees would thrive in the north and west of the UK, where mainly there is little water
limitation. Conversely, as the south and east of the UK is likely to become drier, it is
likely that some species will suffer. Sycamore ( Acer pseudoplatanus ) is one species
at risk and on well-drained soils birch ( Betula spp.) in particular will suffer. Finally,
beech trees ( Fagus sylvatica ) generally do not fare well in hot summers.
In a hypothetical warming Britain without humans, the mix of species in woodlands
would change, with tree species moving to the north and west. Furthermore, woodland
understorey species would also change and so with them the mix of invertebrate
systems. However, as previously noted, in the real world many parts of developed and
even less-developed nations have an increasingly fragmented landscape that does not
facilitate species migration. Britain is no exception. Biologists have for many years
argued that biological conservation should not solely be carried out on a site-by-site
basis, laudable as such initiatives are. What is needed is active management at the
landscape level. Present-day concerns about climate change underscore such needs.
Even so, one confounding factor may well be the speed and magnitude with which
anthropogenic climate change is taking place. This, as has been noted, is greater than
anything seen for the past 10 000 years of the Holocene and is likely, over the coming
two centuries, to cause a return to a warmer world that has not existed for tens of
millions of years.
Shifts in species ranges are not just confined to well-known birds, animals and
butterflies, although naturally these form the basis of many studies. Many other
invertebrates are also affected. In 2006 a telling study of many UK species was pub-
lished (Hickling et al., 2006), demonstrating that current climate change is impacting
on many classes and families of species. It looked at dragonflies and damselflies
(Odonata), grasshoppers and related species (Orthoptera), lacewings (Neuroptera),
butterflies (Rhopalocera), spiders (Arachnida), herptiles (Amphibia and Squamata),
Search WWH ::




Custom Search