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Confronting Climate Change

 

Climate change is a rapidly emerging threat to biodiversity and will likely become the major threat to the continued survival of many plants, animals, and the ecosystems on which they depend. NatureServe is addressing the impacts of climate change on biodiversity by developing tools and information that enable you to build climate-change considerations into broader conservation efforts. Read our strategy to confront climate change.

Latest Efforts

Developing a Climate Change Vulnerability Index

Climate change is affecting numerous plant and animal species right now. But how do you determine which species are most vulnerable, which ones need more focused attention sooner rather than later?

The NatureServe Climate Change Vulnerability Index can help identify plant and animal species that are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Using the Index, you apply readily available information about a species’ natural history, distribution and landscape circumstances to predict whether it will likely suffer a range contraction, population reductions, or both during the coming years. You can use the Index as part of a variety of analyses, including assessing the relative risk of species listed in State Wildlife Action Plans or part of any assessment of the vulnerability of species to climate change. Learn more about the NatureServe Climate Change Vulnerability Index.

Read a case study using the NatureServe Climate Change Vulnerability Index to assess plant and animal species in Nevada.

Download the Guidelines for Using the NatureServe Climate Change Vulnerability Index. This document outlines the rationale for the Index, describes how it works, provides step-by-step instructions for applying the criteria used, and lists ways you can apply the results in strategies for adaptation planning.

Download the NatureServe Climate Change Vulnerability Index tool (release 1.0; 4MB). The Index itself is an Excel workbook allows you to apply it to individual plant and animal species and store the results. You should consult the Guidelines for instructions on proper use of the Index, and please contact NatureServe for additional instruction before embarking on projects that make extensive use of the tool, to ensure proper interpretation and application.

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Tell us what you think! Send a comment about the Index to .

Build climate change-explicit guidance into
NatureServe Vista software

In one approach to Goal 3, NatureServe is integrating climate change analyses into several planning projects using its NatureServe Vista software. Three coastal planning projects in the U.S. (in Georgia, South Carolina, Texas) are incorporating sea level rise predictions as direct threats to biodiversity that can be analyzed in Vista. Vista will identify locations of expected biodiversity loss and quantify the loss relative to conservation objectives so that mitigation and alternative conservation scenarios can be developed.