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Assessing Climate-Sensitive Ecosystems in the Southeastern United States

Project Information

Project Timeline: December 2013. This project has been completed.
Principal Investigator(s):
Dr. Jaime Collazo, USGS NC Cooperative Fish and Wildlife
Dr. William J. Wolfe, USGS Tennessee Water Science Center
Implements Science Theme: 1: Develop climate projections and
determine appropriate projections to use for resource management, 2: Land use and land cover change projections

Key Points

  • Applied methods across a broad range of ecosystem types in the Southeast US
  • Developed a pilot ecosystem vulnerability rating model to assist regional decision-makers
  • Identified broadly applicable conservation strategies, including habitat connectivity and supporting natural disturbance processes

Overview

The Southeast U.S. contains a diversity of ecosystems. These ecosystems have many benefits including habitat, improved water quality, and recreation opportunities. Climate change will impact ecosystems and the benefits they provide. It’s important to understand these changes so we can find strategies to protect these ecosystems.

We assessed climate change vulnerability for twelve ecosystems in the Southeast U.S. and Caribbean. We studied three factors: climate sensitivity, climate change exposure, and adaptive capacity. Through a literature and data review, we made a qualitative vulnerability rating for each ecosystem. We rated five ecosystems as high vulnerability, six as moderate, and one as low. We also tested our work by using NatureServe’s Habitat Climate Change Vulnerability Index (HCCVI). For two of the twelve ecosystems, we used HCCVI to get a numeric vulnerability rating. These two ratings generally agreed with our own. 

We then focused on the best ways to reduce the vulnerability of each ecosystem. We found several important conservation strategies. Maintaining habitat connectivity and natural disturbance processes supports the natural function of the ecosystem. Minimizing the effects of urbanization is another related strategy. Regional decision-makers can use this information in their management plans. Current efforts can continue, and future plans can be set in place for the conservation of these important ecosystems.

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