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Abstract
Climate change presents many challenges for ecosystems, biodiversity, and ecosystem services, particularly in combination with non-climate stressors. Progressive warming, variable precipitation, and more frequent extreme weather events produce changes in ecosystem structure and function, species distribution and abundance, and productivity (IPCC 2021; Lipton et al. 2018). Climate change affects natural resources and interacts with disturbances, such as fire, and non-climate stressors, such as habitat loss, to sometimes generate synergistic effects (Coristine and Kerr 2011). However, disturbance and land-use change also may have antagonistic interactions with climate change, for example, creating lags in species response to climate change or even species shifts to warming locations (Song et al. 2021). Vulnerability of plant and animal species intensifies with exposure to a greater magnitude of climate change, posing substantial risks to ecosystems and their services (Glick et al. 2011). The ability of wildlands to continue to provide goods and services may be disrupted when ecosystems and processes operate outside of historical climate conditions (Warziniack et al. 2024).
Parent Publication
Keywords
adaptation,
Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forests,
disturbances,
ecosystem services,
fire,
flooding,
forest planning,
forest resources,
infrastructure,
insects,
Pike-San Isabel National Forests,
socioeconomic,
resource management,
water resources,
wildfire,
wildlife
Citation
Hanberry, Brice. 2024. Summarizing concerns for natural resources due to climate change and interactions with non-climate stressors in the Rocky Mountains (Chapter 2). In: Hanberry, Brice B., ed. Colorado Front Range climate change vulnerability assessment for National Forests. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-438. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 15-38.
