Warming and Drought Flashcards
What will be the distribution of warming and drought?
Most areas will get warmer
Some areas will get drier - some wetter
More droughts in water demand areas
What are droughts due to?
The balance of water availability and water demand
What is the climatic envelope?
Limit of range based on tolerance to climatic variables
What are the three options to cope with warming and drought?
Move/migrate
Adapt
Die
What does moving entail (as a response to warming and drought)?
Stay in climatic envelope via migration
More migration uphill than latitudinally - as it is colder
What does adapting entail (as a response to warming and drought)?
Plastic and evolutionary responses
Plasticity is rapid but has it limits
Evolutionary would struggle to keep pace with climate change
What is latitudinal migration?
Moving north or south (depending on the hemisphere) to stay in climatic envelope
In the study, what was the average migration shift?
16.9km latitudinally per decade
Do shifts/migration keep pace with climate?
Yes
So expected = observed
What are some responses to drought in the Knapp experiment?
Big packages of rain every so often reduces stress in already stressed xeric environments
Longer gaps between rainfall reduces stress in already stressed hydric environments
What is climate velocity?
The speed needed to move to keep pace with climate change
What is the global mean climate velocity (in a medium CO2 scenario)?
0.42km yr-1
Where has the slowest and where has the fastest climate velocities?
Mountains = slowest
Flat land = faster
How much of the globe needs to have a faster climate velocity?
30%
How much of the land surface to forests cover?
~30%
