Biodiversity and Climate Change Adaptation in Australia:Strategy and Research Developments

Many countries are developing national strategies and action plans aimed at minimising the negative impacts of climate change on biodiversity.The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief overview not only of strategies and plans that have been developed in Australia,but also of research that has been carried out in Australia by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation(CSIRO) Climate Adaptation Flagship to assist the development of future strategies and plans.Major points are summarised from key policy documents such as the National Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan 2004-2007,and Australia's Biodiversity Conservation Strategy 2010-2030,as well as the 2009 report on "Australia's Biodiversity and Climate Change".Within the first three years of its existence,the Natural Ecosystems theme in CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship has carried out studies analysing impacts and identifying potential adaptations across the whole of Australia's vast terrestrial and marine environments.Techniques used in these studies could be applied easily in other countries and could assist the development of more effective national strategies and adaptation action plans for the conservation of biodiversity under climate change.

Multi-scale approach to understanding climate effects on offspring size at birth and date of birth in a reptile

Climate change is already impacting species around the world.Although most focus has been on the effect of temperature,changes in climatic variables other than temperature are also expected to drive biological change.Current models suggest that ectotherms,such as reptiles,will be strongly affected by climate change;however,data from natural populations are rare.Here,we use extensive data from 2 populations of a viviparous lizard(Niveoscincus ocellatus Gray,1845)at the climatic extreme of the species distribution.We examine the effects of climate at a local,a regional and a global scale(thus,integrating a suite of variables at different spatial and temporal scales)on 2 key life history traits:offspring date of birth and size at birth.Overall,our results show that across 9 years of study,local temperature had strong effects on the offspring date of birth but not on the size at birth.Therefore,a rapid increase in local temperature throughout the species range(as predicted under global warming scenarios)is likely to affect phenological processes with potential concomitant effects on offspring fitness and survival.