Climate Change Implications for River Restoration in Global Biodiversity Hotspots

Davies, PM. 2010. RESTORATION ECOLOGY 18 (3): 261-268

This article is a very short overview of how climate change is already impacting sensitive and geographically constrained biological hotspots. Using Southwestern Australia, which has already experienced a 1degree C increase in temperature since 1910, the authors enumerate several problems species are already facing including: increased atmospheric drying and warming, decreased autumn/winter flows and flooding regimes, increased water temperatures, and an increase in the occurrence of extreme seasonal events. These impacts are increasingly problematic due to geographic constrains that do not allow species to migrate to cooler zones such as towards the poles or to higher altitudes. The authors speak to how these impacts may be problematic for freshwater species in particular, however, there they do not give concrete examples, often using cans and mays supported by secondary source evidence. Their recommendations for addressing possible problems include in situ restorations in which riparian vegetation is increased by 10% to increase shading for lower temperatures as well as the appropriate use of regulated environmental flows. I don’t think the article would be a great one to read in class as it only briefly overviews the issues and doesn’t give a whole lot of supporting evidence.