Tracking the effect of climate change on ecosystem functioning using protected areas: Africa as a case study |
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| Institution: | 1. Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent''s Park, London NW1 4RY, UK;2. Division of Biology, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK;3. Conservation Programme, Zoological Society of London, Regent''s Park, London NW1 4RY, UK;1. Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain;2. Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio), University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain;3. Institute of Ecology, University of Innsbruck, Sternwartestrasse 15, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria;4. Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (IPE-CSIC), Av. Nuestra Señora de la Victoria 16, 22700 Jaca (Huesca), Spain;5. Institute of Botany, University of Innsbruck, Sternwartestrasse 15, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria;1. Department of Remote Sensing and GIS, Faculty of Geography, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran;2. Center of Excellence in Geomatics Eng. in Disaster Management, School of Surveying and Geospatial Eng., College of Eng., University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran;3. Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA;1. Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent''s Park, NW1 4RY, London, UK;2. Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington, SW7 2AZ, London, UK;3. Endangered Landscapes Programme, Cambridge Conservation Initiative, The David Attenborough Building, Cambridge, CB2 3QZ, UK |
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| Abstract: | Protected areas represent important core ‘units’ for in situ conservation. However, the current static system is at risk from the effects of global environmental change. This is especially true in Africa, a biodiversity-rich continent expected to be hit hard by climate change. Focusing on African protected areas that experience limited human impact (International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) categories I and II), we tested three hypotheses regarding the impact of climate change on the dynamics of net primary productivity (NPP). We expected a lower annual NPP and higher seasonality in NPP in Eastern and Southern Africa; changes in NPP dynamics to coincide with changes in precipitation; no correlation between changes in NPP dynamics and human development. To test these expectations, we used the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) as an index of NPP. Results show that, between 1982 and 2008, an increased vegetation greenness was observed in 27% of the protected areas monitored (mostly in Western Africa), and an increased seasonality in 9% of them (mostly in Eastern and Southern Africa). Our results lend support to current expectations regarding the impacts of climate change, and demonstrate how protected areas of IUCN categories I and II could be used to track the effect of climate change on ecosystem functioning in Africa, and possibly elsewhere. The study highlights the need for a dynamic approach to conservation, where the relevance and efficiency of management actions need to be regularly evaluated. It also demonstrates that satellite-based approaches offer a cheap, verifiable way to quickly identify protected areas of concern at a global scale, supporting managers in their effort to design and apply adaptive management strategies. |
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