This is the first climate change adaptation plan produced for a national faunal group anywhere in the world. It outlines the nature of threats related to climate change for the Australian bird taxa most likely to be affected by climate change, and provides recommendations on what might be done to assist them and an approximate cost of doing so. It also features an analysis of how climate change will affect all Australian birds, explains why some species are likely to be more exposed or sensitive to it than others, and explores the theory and practice of conservation management under the realities of a changing climate.
Species profiles include maps showing current core habitat and modelled climatic suitability based on historical records, as well as maps showing projected climatic suitability in 2085 in relation to current core habitat.
Climate Change Adaptation Plan for Australian Birds is an important reference for policy makers, conservation scientists, land managers, climate change adaptation biologists, as well as bird watchers and advocacy groups.
Foreword
Acknowledgements
List of contributors
Chapter 1: Introduction
Stephen T. Garnett and Don C. Franklin
Chapter 2: The exposure of Australian birds to climate change
Donald C Franklin, Glenn Ehmke, Jeremy VanDerWal and Stephen T Garnett
Chapter 3: The sensitivity of Australian birds to climate change
Donald C Franklin and Justin C Welbergen
Chapter 4: The vulnerability of Australian birds to climate change
Donald C Franklin, Glenn Ehmke and Stephen T Garnett
Chapter 5: Conserving Australian bird populations in the face of climate change
Donald C Franklin, April E Reside and Stephen T Garnett
Chapter 6: Adaptation outlines for species that are both highly sensitive and highly exposed
Stephen T Garnett, Chris R Pavey, Glenn Ehmke, Jeremy VanDerWal, Lauren Hodgson and Donald C Franklin
Appendix 1. Australian bird taxa that are considered highly or very highly exposed or sensitive to climate change, or both
Index
Stephen Garnett has been studying Australian birds since 1974. During the 1980s he worked on the Handbook of Australian, Antarctic and New Zealand Birds and since 1990 he has co-written three Action Plans for Australia’s threatened birds including the latest, The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2010. He has studied and written about many threatened Australian bird species, most notably the Golden-shouldered Parrot and the Kangaroo Island Glossy Black-Cockatoo, and helped bring the idea of Important Bird Areas to Australia. He also works on natural resource based livelihoods in northern Australia and South-East Asia. He is a research professor at Charles Darwin University in Darwin.
Donald Franklin is an ornithologist, plant ecologist and biogeographer who has conducted research in both northern and southern Australia. He has worked with threatened birds and studied the relationship between climate, plants and vegetation. He works from his north Queensland home part time for Charles Darwin University and part time privately.
"[...] Although it is easy to quibble over some of the assumptions and details of the modelling on how climate change might affect a particular species, the alternative of doing nothing and hoping for the best (the political response) is unlikely to result in a better conservation outcome. Ensuring all the birds of Australia survive the 21st century will no doubt be a major challenge for the country's conservationists. This book provides them with a valuable starting point to ensure they succeed."
- James Briskie, Ibis 157(2), April 2015
"[...] To sum up, this is not only a very useful resource for anyone involved in Australian avifauna. it is also a model of how to undertake a research-informed yet practice-focused study on climate change vulnerability for any taxonomic group."
- Anne Goodenough, The Bulletin of the British Ecological Society 46(1), March 2015