As climate change accelerates, the impact on biodiversity and natural capital becomes more profound, with ecosystems, species, and natural resources under increasing threat.
The webinar will focus on the impact of climate change on biodiversity and will discuss the necessary steps to enhance ecosystem resilience.
This blog explores how these changes can be addressed through nature-based solutions, innovative policy frameworks, and sustainable planning, ensuring a balance between human development and the health of natural ecosystems.
This blog features presentations from climate, biodiversity and technology specialists:
- Conservation & Restoration in a Changing Climate: Complexity, Resilience & Restoring Forwards with Professor Jim Harris (Cranfield University)
- Integrating Climate Resilience with Biodiversity Net Gain with Julia Baker (Mott MacDonald)
- Climate Resilience: Understanding and Empowering Change with Chris Burnett (Map Impact)
- Panel discussion facilitated by Dr Dan Carpenter (Digital Ecology)
Conservation & Restoration in a Changing Climate: Complexity, Resilience & Restoring Forwards
Professor Jim Harris (Cranfield University)
Climate change is moving the biophysical envelope all over the planet – and some species cannot keep up, being deeply embedded in those systems – we are moving swiftly from Red Queen to Court Jester environments, and we need to adapt management to suit. Current approaches, such as management for one or a few species in a SSSI, or as part of a landscape character designation, may appear to produce resistant communities in a location for now, but in the longer term are more likely to induce fragility and potential collapse.
We should consider the role of diversity and complexity in all ecosystem components (abiotic and biotic) to sustain system function and provide emergent properties, particularly resilience. We may have to consider that for some systems we accept shifting community structures in terms of which species flourish where, producing novel assemblages with the same ecosystem interdependencies – “same play, different actors”.
We can ask:
- Is the system maturing, or capable of maturing, along a stable trajectory?
- Is the system resistant and resilient?
- Is the system providing ecosystem goods and services?
- Is it providing a safe space for species to thrive in response to climate change?
- Is it time to consider an ecosystems protection policy?
- Should we be engaged in a triage process due to limited resources?
In this rapidly changing environment we need to bring flexibility to bear, adopting a “Principles and Guidelines” approach, rather than an adherence to rigid Standards and species lists.
- Restoring Resilient Ecosystems: https://restreco.com/
- Benetkova et al (2022) Soil fauna development during heathland restoration from arable land: Role of soil modification and material transplant. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0925857421003864
- Bullock et al (2022) Future restoration should enhance ecological complexity and emergent properties at multiple scales: https://nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/ecog.05780
- Harris et al (2006) Ecological Restoration and Global Climate Change: https://shorturl.at/72AiH
- Higgs (2017) Novel and designed ecosystems: https://www.erichiggs.ca/uploads/4/5/2/9/45292581/higgs2016.pdf
- Higgs et al (2014) The Changing Role of History in Restoration Ecology: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1890/110267
- Higgs et al (2018) Keep ecological restoration open and flexible: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0483-9
- Higgs et al (2018) On principles and standards in ecological restoration: https://research.ed.ac.uk/en/publications/on-principles-and-standards-in-ecological-restoration
- Higgs et al (2018) The evolution of Society for Ecological Restoration’s principles and standards—counter-response to Gann et al: https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.12821
- Hobbs et al (2014) Managing the whole landscape: historical, hybrid and novel ecosystems: https://doi.org/10.1890/130300
- Hobbs et al (2009) Novel ecosystems: implications for conservation and restoration: https://cmapspublic3.ihmc.us/rid=1K7PBR9LC-1318ZTM-2J2/Hobbs%25202009%2520novel%2520ecosystems.pdf
- Keane et al (2018) Use of landscape simulation modelling to quantify resilience for ecological applications: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/ecs2.2414
- Liu et al (2018) Tree species richness increases ecosystem carbon storage in subtropical forests: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2018.1240
- Radujković et al (2020) Initial soil community drives heathland fungal community trajectory over multiple years through altered plant-soil interactions: https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16226
- Sanczuk et al (2024) Unexpected westward range shifts in European forest plants link to nitrogen deposition. https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/538254/1/N538254PP.pdf
- Standish et al (2014) Resilience in ecology: Abstraction, distraction, or where the action is?: https://escholarship.org/content/qt6sx3893f/qt6sx3893f.pdf
- Weise et al (2020) Resilience trinity: safeguarding ecosystem functioning and services across three different time horizons and decision contexts: https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.07213
Integrating Climate Resilience with Biodiversity Net Gain
Julia Baker (Mott MacDonald)
Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is achieved by following the Biodiversity Gain Hierarchy and creating wildlife-rich habitats. These BNG habitats are secured for at least 30 years but, during that time, more extreme weather events and changes in climatic trends will threaten the viability of BNG habitats. Designing-in resilience is critical for BNG to be successful and, in this presentation, Julia describes an approach to integrate climate resilience into the design, management and monitoring of BNG habitats.
- Local Authority Climate Service: https://climatedataportal.metoffice.gov.uk/pages/lacs
- UK Climate Projections (UKCP): https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/approach/collaboration/ukcp
- Forest Research Ecological Site Classification (ESC): https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/fthr/ecological-site-classification/
Climate Resilience Understanding and Empowering Change
Chris Burnett (Map Impact)
Chris Burnett (Chief Operating Officer at Map Impact) will discuss a recent report that indicates that trees and land absorbed almost no CO2 in 2023, and that climate change is impacting on our ability to protect biodiversity to aid in reversing these trends. Remote sensing techniques have the ability to measure the success of nature recovery schemes over long time periods through repeat monitoring, while simultaneously providing an indication of climate change risk that can dictate the success or failure of proposed strategies. This presentation will explore use cases and techniques to determine how multiple datasets can provide insights to support successful strategies to combat climate change.
- Sign up to the Map Impact Newsletter: https://www.mapimpact.io/fiind-out-more/
- Trees and land absorbed almost no CO2 last year. Is nature’s carbon sink failing? (The Guardian, 14th October 2024): https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/14/nature-carbon-sink-collapse-global-heating-models-emissions-targets-evidence-aoe
- Ke et al (2023) Low latency carbon budget analysis reveals a large decline of the land carbon sink in 2023: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2407.12447
- Ruehr et al (2023) Evidence and attribution of the enhanced land carbon sink: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-023-00456-3
- European Space Agency – Canada Wildfires: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2023/06/Carbon_monoxide_from_fires_in_Canada
- NOAA – Amazon Drought, Feb 7th 2024: https://www.climate.gov/news-features/event-tracker/preliminary-analysis-says-global-warming-more-blame-el-nino-amazons
- 2023 Surface Air Temperature Anomaly: https://climate.copernicus.eu/global-climate-highlights-2023
- UK Climate Change Risk Assessment 2022: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/61e54d8f8fa8f505985ef3c7/climate-change-risk-assessment-2022.pdf
- Law Society Climate Risk and Conveyancing Practice Note: https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/climate-change
- Climate Change Committee- tree planting – slide 10
- Map Impact HeatView: https://www.mapimpact.io/product/heatview/
- Map Impact BiodiversityView: https://www.mapimpact.io/product/biodiversityview/
- Saddleworth Moor Wildfire: https://community.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/b/martinharper/posts/the-saddleworth-fire-and-the-importance-of-restoring-our-peatland-habitats-in-tackling-climate-change
- Saddleworth Moor WIldfire – Rewilding reduces risk (Rewilding Britain): https://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/why-rewild/benefits-of-rewilding/how-rewilding-reduces-wildfire-risk#:~:text=Wetlands%20in%20a%20wildfire%20at%20Saddleworth%20Moor&text=The%20RSPB%2C%20which%20is%20managing,in%20the%20heather-dominated%20areas.
- Wiltshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy: https://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/article/8288/Wiltshire-and-Swindon-Local-Nature-Recovery-Strategy
Panel Discussion
Hosted by Dr Dan Carpenter (Digital Ecology)
How can practitioners apply some of these principles in our design and management practices in the ecology sector?
Jim: That’s the big question. At the moment, what’s emerging is very clearly pointing that in some cases we’re going to be have to looking at non-natives from more southerly and perhaps easterly parts of Europe to retain ecosystem resilience. Consideration needs to be given to what can safely be brought in, what the legislation allows and how organisms fit within trophic webs. We know there’s a history of organisms that have been introduced in the past that actually have repaired holes in trophic webs and we’ve got an astonishing, almost accidental resource, at our disposal. There’s a large number of parklands across the UK that have been planted with lots of exotic species over the last 200-300 years. Has anyone surveyed those exotics to see what ecological functions they are providing? Would it be possible to use some of those species to help the transition of ecosystems to different kinds of configurations? I think how exotics connect to the whole system and ecosystem functions whilst not driving out native species is an area where we need to be looking very hard what the latitude is in legislation and regulation. I’m not advocating abandoning the conservation of native species or habitats in any way, just highlighting that we will need to consider introducing species too, in specific circumstances.
Julia: There’s really interesting research coming from Germany that shows their native woodlands are already starting to adapt to climate change. The approach to integrate climate resilience with BNG that we developed at Mott MacDonald is to buffer the severity of impacts from climate on BNG habitats. But also to monitor how native species are adapting to a changing climate.
What role does natural regeneration play in habitat restoration or even creation of something new?
Jim: Natural regeneration has got a big part to play in this but you’ve got to be able to get over the hump of things arriving too slowly in a system. The point that jumps out time and time again is the critical importance of moisture and water within ecosystems. Look at the success of some of the beaver introductions that we’ve seen, with biodiversity going through the roof. We need to think about the whole system. We need to be thinking about the kind of metrics that we use to enable us to manage this. It’s a long-term project. The majority of non-native species aren’t invasive, so we can manage those. We just got to really be alert for the invasive ones. I would have thought a good first pass at that, anything you’re moving from south to north is a potential contender for introduction in the system. I think there’s a lot to be said for natural regeneration in places, but we’ve got a mismatch between things like the woodland carbon code and BNG, with those sometimes pulling in opposite directions.
Julia: We must consider the wealth of climate change data that is freely accessible. For example, using climate projection data such as the projections that are freely available from the UK Met Office. Then we can use the projections to consider and mitigate climate risks when designing BNG and especially to understand what a natural regeneration approach might be.
How do satellite and environmental datasets fit into the monitoring of BNG in a changing climate?
Chris: The data that we provide enables ecologists to get a landscape view of condition and is important for understanding climate risk. Are we seeing climate risk change in parallel with the introduction of new habitats that are hopefully mitigating against that? Are BNG and Local Nature Recovery Strategies meeting the KPIs that they are intended to meet at a site, local or national level? Monitoring is crucial to understand all of that. Spatial data helps us understand this across a larger area. Aligning different datasets spatially into a common spatial framework, such as the heat, biodiversity, wildfire and drought layers that I referenced in my talk, enables ecologists to look at how these various factors overlap and can help them put together a Habitat Management and Monitoring Plan (HMMP) that is more robust.
Is it worth unifying the various metrics into a single grand unifying metric?
Jim: The best solution is to have both detailed specific metrics and a single grand unifying metric. A single grand metric is something that we’ve not had in the past and could be used as an overview. We can’t examine all the components at once as it is just not feasible, and we’re not even sure what the interactions for some components. I think that a grand overview of what’s going on and what the response is to factors such as drought and wildlife is going to be critically important. We also need to remember that the UK has an incredibly impoverished fauna post the last glaciation. I think we need to have a bit more of an experimental open approach regarding the colonisation of non-invasive non-natives, in conservation management and ecosystem restoration.
Julia: Designing BNG with climate resilience draws together BNG and climate projection data, and it is critical to display these datasets in an accessible and easy-to-understand way. Then we can enable good design for BNG.
Questions About HeatView and BiodiversityView
What does HeatView provide?
Chris: HeatView is a dataset that utilizes multiple sources to indicate how susceptible specific locations are to heat stress following periods of extreme climatic heat. By integrating both day and night satellite data, the dataset is particularly valuable for assessing the effects of nighttime heat, which is frequently neglected.
Does HeatView consider drought?
Chris: HeatView considers heat itself, using thermal infrared from satellites. We’re planning to release a separate product that will focus on drought (by considering heat, vegetative characteristics and NDV) and hope to launch in January 2025. Sign up to the Map Impact Newsletter to hear more about this when it is released.
Is there technical documentation available for these products?
Chris: There is and we’ll start to release this as and when the related products become available. Again, it’s worth signing up the Map Impact Newsletter for the latest releases.
What scale are the data at?
Chris: Much like our BiodiversityView dataset, these tools are using a H3 hexagonal grid. So each grid is about 50 meters wide. They cover the whole county so you can get an understanding of risk every 50 metres.
Can ecologists add these spatial datasets into their own GIS systems?
Chris: Absolutely. There’s a number of ways that the data can be provided, but normally it would be through an API and it is very easy to integrate into your GIS. We can also provide this both offline and in the form of reports. Get in touch to find out how you can integrate it into your workflow.
Event Partners
This webinar will be delivered by the Biological Recording Company in partnership with Map Impact.
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