Alliance Director Dr. Amber Pairis and Alliance Advisors Dr. Megan Jennings and Dr. Julie Kalansky opened day one of the SERCAL (California Society for Ecological Restoration) conference on May 9, 2018 in San Diego, CA.
Dr. Pairis and Dr. Jennings introduced the recent assessment “San Diego County Ecosystems: The Ecological Impacts of Climate Change on a Biodiversity Hotspot”, which was led by a unique collaboration of local ecologists and climatologists under the umbrella of the Climate Science Alliance. The assessment presents the state of the science on the projected climatic changes in temperature, precipitation regime, fire weather, and coastal low clouds and fog and the likely effects of these climatic shifts on the region’s diverse ecosystems, habitats, plants, and animals. This effort is a model of how science-based assessments can serve as a baseline for guiding future research, management, and planning efforts, highlighting knowledge gaps to be filled and providing opportunities for supporting resilience through adaptation. Dr. Kalansky presented a more in depth look at the precipitation chapters and Dr. Alexander (Sasha) Gershunov presented on the key findings from the fire chapter.
Learn more about the SDC Ecosystems Assessment here.
Learn more about SERCAL here.