Incorporating Climate Science in Applications of the U.S. Endangered Species Act for Aquatic Species |
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| Authors: | MICHELLE M MCCLURE MICHAEL ALEXANDER DIANE BORGGAARD DAVID BOUGHTON LISA CROZIER ROGER GRIFFIS JEFFREY C JORGENSEN STEVEN T LINDLEY JANET NYE MELANIE J ROWLAND ERIN E SENEY AMY SNOVER CHRISTOPHER TOOLE KYLE VAN HOUTAN |
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| Institution: | 1. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, , Seattle, WA, 98112 U.S.A.;2. NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, , Boulder, CO, 80305 U.S.A.;3. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Northeast Regional Office, , Gloucester, MA, 01930 U.S.A.;4. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, , Santa Cruz, CA, 95060 U.S.A.;5. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Science and Technology, , Silver Spring, MD, 20910 U.S.A.;6. School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, , Stony Brook, NY, 11794‐5000 U.S.A.;7. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of the General Counsel, Northwest Section, , Seattle, WA, U.S.A.;8. Melanie J. Rowland Consulting, , Twisp, WA, 98856 U.S.A.;9. Erin Seney Consulting, LLC, , Woodbridge, VA, 22192 U.S.A.;10. Climate Impacts Group, University of Washington, , Seattle, WA, 98105 U.S.A.;11. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, West Coast Region, , Portland, OR, 97232‐1274 U.S.A.;12. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Pacific Islands Science Center, , Honolulu, HI, 96814 U.S.A.;13. Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University, , Durham, NC, 27708 U.S.A. |
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| Abstract: | Aquatic species are threatened by climate change but have received comparatively less attention than terrestrial species. We gleaned key strategies for scientists and managers seeking to address climate change in aquatic conservation planning from the literature and existing knowledge. We address 3 categories of conservation effort that rely on scientific analysis and have particular application under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA): assessment of overall risk to a species; long‐term recovery planning; and evaluation of effects of specific actions or perturbations. Fewer data are available for aquatic species to support these analyses, and climate effects on aquatic systems are poorly characterized. Thus, we recommend scientists conducting analyses supporting ESA decisions develop a conceptual model that links climate, habitat, ecosystem, and species response to changing conditions and use this model to organize analyses and future research. We recommend that current climate conditions are not appropriate for projections used in ESA analyses and that long‐term projections of climate‐change effects provide temporal context as a species‐wide assessment provides spatial context. In these projections, climate change should not be discounted solely because the magnitude of projected change at a particular time is uncertain when directionality of climate change is clear. Identifying likely future habitat at the species scale will indicate key refuges and potential range shifts. However, the risks and benefits associated with errors in modeling future habitat are not equivalent. The ESA offers mechanisms for increasing the overall resilience and resistance of species to climate changes, including establishing recovery goals requiring increased genetic and phenotypic diversity, specifying critical habitat in areas not currently occupied but likely to become important, and using adaptive management. Incorporación de las Ciencias Climáticas en las Aplicaciones del Acta Estadunidense de Especies en Peligro para Especies Acuáticas |
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| Keywords: | climate change conservation planning effects analysis population models recovery planning risk assessment vulnerability aná lisis de efectos cambio climá tico estudios de riesgo modelos de població n planeació n de conservació n planeació n de recuperació n vulnerabilidad |
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