Modelling climate-change-induced shifts in the distribution of the koala

2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Adams-Hosking ◽  
Hedley S. Grantham ◽  
Jonathan R. Rhodes ◽  
Clive McAlpine ◽  
Patrick T. Moss
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Habitat Loss ◽  
Conservation Planning ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Climate Envelope

Context The impacts of climate change on the climate envelopes, and hence, distributions of species, are of ongoing concern for biodiversity worldwide. Knowing where climate refuge habitats will occur in the future is essential to conservation planning. The koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is recognised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as a species highly vulnerable to climate change. However, the impact of climate change on its distribution is poorly understood. Aims We aimed to predict the likely shifts in the climate envelope of the koala throughout its natural distribution under various climate change scenarios and identify potential future climate refugia. Methods To predict possible future koala climate envelopes we developed bioclimatic models using Maxent, based on a substantial database of locality records and several climate change scenarios. Key results The predicted current koala climate envelope was concentrated in south-east Queensland, eastern New South Wales and eastern Victoria, which generally showed congruency with their current known distribution. Under realistic projected future climate change, with the climate becoming increasingly drier and warmer, the models showed a significant progressive eastward and southward contraction in the koala’s climate envelope limit in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. The models also indicated novel potentially suitable climate habitat in Tasmania and south-western Australia. Conclusions Under a future hotter and drier climate, current koala distributions, based on their climate envelope, will likely contract eastwards and southwards to many regions where koala populations are declining due to additional threats of high human population densities and ongoing pressures from habitat loss, dog attacks and vehicle collisions. In arid and semi-arid regions such as the Mulgalands of south-western Queensland, climate change is likely to compound the impacts of habitat loss, resulting in significant contractions in the distribution of this species. Implications Climate change pressures will likely change priorities for allocating conservation efforts for many species. Conservation planning needs to identify areas that will provide climatically suitable habitat for a species in a changing climate. In the case of the koala, inland habitats are likely to become climatically unsuitable, increasing the need to protect and restore the more mesic habitats, which are under threat from urbanisation. National and regional koala conservation policies need to anticipate these changes and synergistic threats. Therefore, a proactive approach to conservation planning is necessary to protect the koala and other species that depend on eucalypt forests.

scholarly journals Education activities for environment and sustainability: A Snapshot of eight New South Wales councils

1970 ◽  
pp. 77-89
Author(s):  
Jade Herriman ◽  
Emma Partridge
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Sustainability Education ◽  
South Wales ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
The University ◽  
Sustainable Futures ◽  
Preliminary Phase ◽  
Sydney Australia

This paper describes in brief the findings of a research project undertaken by the Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) at the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. The research was commissioned by and undertaken on behalf of the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW). The aim of the project was to investigate current practices of environmental and sustainability education and engagement within local government in NSW. The research was commissioned by DECCW as the preliminary phase of a larger project that the department is planning to undertake, commencing in 2010.

Compassion, a Timely Feeling …

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-108
Author(s):  
Diana G. Barnes ◽  
Delia Falconer
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Historical Change ◽  
Effect Change ◽  
Emotional Effect ◽  
South Wales

Abstract The concept of compassion, defined as suffering with, has a long history often entangled in that of the cognate term pity. It has proven to be a changeable concept that is not only responsive to but integral to historical change itself. This is because it is a sociable emotion, but, in the sense that it expresses a desire to alleviate the suffering of another, the emotion also expresses the desire to effect change. For this reason it is a particularly timely lens through which to consider the emotional effect of climate change upon local communities, and the new emotional regime taking shape in the Anthropocene – and the dawning of the Pyrocene – beginning with Armidale, New South Wales through the drought and fire of Australia’s Black Summer of 2019–20, but extending beyond.

Koalas and climate change: a case study on the Liverpool Plains, north-west New South Wales

2012 ◽  
pp. 150-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Lunney ◽  
Mathew S. Crowther ◽  
Ian Wallis ◽  
William J. Foley ◽  
John Lemon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
North West ◽  
South Wales

Evidence for Dynamic Climate Change on Sub-106-Year Scales from the Late Paleozoic Glacial Record, Tamworth Belt, New South Wales, Australia

2009 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 56-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. P. Birgenheier ◽  
C. R. Fielding ◽  
M. C. Rygel ◽  
T. D. Frank ◽  
J. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Late Paleozoic ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Tamworth Belt
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