Species Vulnerability to Climatic and Anthropogenic stressors#
Description#
Definition: the degree to which a system is susceptible to, and unable to cope with, the adverse effect of Climate change (IPCC, 2007) or anthropogenic stressors. Vulnerability assessment is a function of the character, magnitude and rate of pressure to which the system is exposed, its sensitivity and its adaptive capacity (IPCC, 2007; Foden et al., 2019).
Example of criteria use: 1. Set conservation priority (i.e., assessing and predicting the vulnerability of species and communities to human-made impacts and climate change), as well as forecasting species extinction risks and evaluating community velocities (i.e., future projection of species distribution); 2. Design more defined boundary for protection, design cross-boundary MPAs when stressors are dispersed; 3. Identify stable, climate-smart potential (areas that promote mitigation and adaptation under climate change) or highly vulnerable areas; 4. Monitor the effectiveness of area-based management tools and to develop scenarios for their adaptive management, e.g., reserve effect or measuring fishery-induced trophic cascades due to overfishing (see D3.2); 5. Create monitoring programme of MPAs measuring climate incidence, species and areas resilience and adaptivity (involves the ongoing assessment of the biological traits of species over time to effectively trace the impacts of management interventions).
Used especially in Risk assessment phase.
Cambra et al (2024). Guidance for including climate change scenarios in protection and prioritization strategies for Marine Protected Areas development. Deliverable D3.3, under the WP3 of MSP4BIO project (GA n° 101060707)
Foden, W.B., Young, B.E., Akçakaya, H.R., Garcia, R.A., Hoffmann, A.A., Stein, B.A., Thomas, C.D., Wheatley, C.J., Bickford, D., Carr, J.A., Hole, D.G., Martin, T.G., Pacifici, M., Pearce-Higgins, J.W., Platts, P.J., Visconti, P., Watson, J.E.M., Huntley, B., 2019. Climate change vulnerability assessment of species. WIREs Climate Change 10, e551. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.551
Kotta et al. (2024) Ecological toolkit (ESE1) for MPAs prioritization and networking. Deliverable – D3.4., under the WP3 of MSP4BIO project (GA n° 101060707)