California Institute for Energy and Environment (CIEE)

California has often led the United States, and the world, in facilitating research on ecological impacts of rapid climate change. Now the fate of many Californian species rests on the shoulders of managers and those engaged in conservation planning and policy. What is sorely needed is general guidance on and specific examples of how scientists and those responsible for protecting biodiversity can work together toward specific adaptation strategies with a high probability of benefiting species and maintaining a diversity of functioning ecosystems. This report provides examples of how various species and ecosystems in California already are and how they might be influenced by climate disruption. The report is comprised of case studies written by senior graduate students and beginning postdoctoral scholars. These case studies include the following topics: using the fossil record to predict how California mammals will likely respond to climatic change, conserving California grasslands into an uncertain future, species invasion in California ecosystems, benefits to bumblebees of alpine meadow restoration in the face of rapid climate change, elevational shifts in breeding birds in a California desert region, climate change impacts on the productivity of California’s coastal ocean, and the physiological impacts of ocean warming along the California coast.