Adaptation means to take action to adjust, prepare for, and accommodate anticipated climate changes and respond to effects. For natural-resource managers, adaptation strategies also include actions taken to assist natural resources (species, habitats, forest plantations, watersheds) in accommodating the changes and new conditions imposed by climate.
For more, see the following resources:
Responses to Climate Change: What You Need to Know, CCRC education module (CCRC Education Module)
There are many adaptation options for managing ecosystems to help them cope with the negative effects of climate change. These can be broadly grouped into three categories:
1. Resistance options improve the defenses of an ecosystem against anticipated changes, so the system stay relatively unchanged.
2. Resilience options enhance the ability of an ecosystem to return to prior conditions after disturbance.
3. Transition options intentionally accommodate change and enable ecosystems to adaptively respond and adjust to future conditions in a deliberate way.
For more, see the following resources:
Responses to Climate Change: What You Need to Know, CCRC education module (CCRC Education Module)
Forests and other ecosystems provide many direct and indirect services for humans and other species, including the provision of wood and fuel, food, temperature and flood regulation, erosion control, recreational and aesthetic value, and species habitat. These ecosystems are facing many threats due to climate change, which will affect how they function and whether they are able to provide these environmental benefits.
Current land-use patterns, including fragmentation, extensive urban and suburban development, altered fire regimes, vegetation management, and introduction of invasive species, often impede the ability of species to respond to current climate change as they have in the past, through evolution and migration. Small population sizes and isolation of populations as a result of land-use impede gene flow; invasive species disrupt opportunities for migration; and altered fire regimes destroy corridors for movement and habitat for breeding. Many land-use changes impose physical barriers that impede species' migration to favorable new environments (e.g. expanded suburban development). Because of these human-caused changes, ecosystems may need human help for adaptation.
For more details, see the following resources:
Ecosystem Effects, Climate FAQs
Landscape Analysis, CCRC Topic Page
Biodiversity, CCRC Topic Page
Assisted migration is a human-assisted movement of species in response to climate change. It is a management approach that physically moves species (individuals, seeds, etc.) to new locations assessed suitable for survival under changed climate conditions. Assisted migration recognizes that suitable habitat will change as climate changes and that species need to move to survive.
Assisted migration is a controversial topic, as it assumes a secure understanding of local climate change and an understanding of biotic and ecologic responses and interactions.
For more details, see the following resources:
Assisted Migration, CCRC Topic Page
There is no single management solution to climate change, because management goals and circumstances across ecosystems are different. Many approaches can be used to respond to climate change challenges, and specific responses will depend on the management goals for a particular resource or area. Adaptation options can be thought of as tools that are available in a well-supplied toolbox. Each option, or tool, will be selected based on the user's situation, goals, and needs. Case studies and demonstrations will also become useful for considering alternative strategies. Collectively these strategies compose a toolbox from which the manager can choose the best approach to fit the situation at hand.
For more details, see the following resources:
Compendium of Adaptation Approaches, CCRC
Adaptation Examples, CCRC
Adaptation Planning, CCRC
Mitigation activities focus on reducing atmospheric greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, that cause climate change, in order to reduce the effects of climate change.
For more details, see the following resources:
Responses to Climate Change: What You Need to Know (CCRC education module)
Management activities can affect greenhouse gas mitigation. In a forest management context, examples of mitigation actions can generally be placed into three categories:
1. Emissions Avoidance actions avoid carbon losses from fire, tree mortality, or land conversion.
2. Sequestration actions store additional carbon in forests.
3. Substitution actions provide renewable energy from biomass, replacing fossil fuel use.
For more details, see the following resources:
Responses to Climate Change: What You Need to Know (CCRC education module)
Forest Carbon Science, Policy, and Management, CCRC and MSU education module(CCRC education module)
Carbon as One of Many Management Objectives(CCRC Topic Page)
Adaptation and mitigation strategies are often considered joint paths - they are optimally combined and integrated. For example, a fuel-reduction treatment to reduce severe wildfire could be conducted for complementary adaptation and mitigation goals: reducing wildfire protects certain habitats and also averts excess greenhouse gas emissions.
For more details, see the following resources:
Responses to Climate Change: What You Need to Know (CCRC education module)
Forest Carbon Science, Policy, and Management, CCRC and MSU education module(CCRC education module)
