Long-term data recorded before regional temperatures were greatly affected by human emissions of greenhouse gasesprovide an historical baseline with which to compare modernand future trends. Long-term ecological data needed to investigate the influence of temperature on the time of songbird breeding are rare. Significant amounts of data exist in collector descriptions of bird eggs taken in the wild from mid-1800s to mid-1900s. The researchers draw on these data from three museums, and finds that seven of 21 species examined had significant trends in laying date, with some species laying eggs earlier and others later. The largest change was in the Oak Titmouse with an average shift of 20 days later per decade and Phainopepla with the largest earlier shift of 8 daysearlier per decade. The associations between the average California temperatures a month or two before laying and times of breeding were strong for six out of the nine resident California songbirds. For migrating species, only two of nine had a strong association between laying date and mean California temperature. These findings provide a baseline to which modern and future phenological shifts may be compared and calibrated. The researcher team offers suggestions for future studies and recommendations for the state of California.

Managed relocation (MR) has rapidly emerged as a potential intervention strategy in the toolbox of biodiversity management under climate change. Previous authors have suggested that MR (also referred to as assisted colonization, assisted migration, or assisted translocation) could be a last-alternative option after interrogating a linear decision tree. We argue that numerous interacting and value-laden considerations demand a more inclusive strategy for evaluating MR. The pace of modern climate change demands decision making with imperfect information, and tools that elucidate this uncertainty and integrate scientific information and social values are urgently needed. We present a heuristic tool that incorporates both ecological and social criteria in a multidimensional decision-making framework. For visualization purposes, we collapse these criteria into 4 classes that can be depicted in graphical 2-D space. This framework offers a pragmatic approach for summarizing key dimensions of MR: capturing uncertainty in the evaluation criteria, creating transparency in the evaluation process, and recognizing the inherent tradeoffs that different stakeholders bring to evaluation of MR and its alternatives.

Managed relocation is defined as the movement of species, populations, or genotypes to places outside the areas of their historical distributions to maintain biological diversity or ecosystem functioning with changing climate. It has been claimed that a major extinction event is under way and that climate change is increasing its severity. Projections indicating that climate change may drive substantial losses of biodiversity have compelled some scientists to suggest that traditional management strategies are insufficient. The managed relocation of species is a controversial management response to climate change. The published literature has emphasized biological concerns over difficult ethical, legal, and policy issues. Furthermore, ongoing managed relocation actions lack scientific and societal engagement. Our interdisciplinary team considered ethics, law, policy, ecology, and natural resources management in order to identify the key issues of managed relocation relevant for developing sound policies that support decisions for resource management. We recommend that government agencies develop and adopt best practices for managed relocation. © 2012 by American Institute of Biological Sciences. All rights reserved.