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Global biodiversity is in unprecedented decline and on‐the‐ground solutions are imperative for conservation. Although there is a large volume of evidence related to climate change effects on wildlife, research on climate adaptation strategies is lagging. To assess the current state of knowledge in climate adaptation, we conducted a comprehensive literature review and evaluated 1,346 peer‐reviewed publications for management recommendations designed to address the consequences of climate change on wildlife populations. From 509 publications, we identified 2,306 recommendations and employed both qualitative and quantitative methods for data analysis. Although we found an increase in the volume and diversity of recommendations since 2007, a focus on protected areas (26%, 596 of 2,306 recommendations) and the non‐reserve matrix (12%, 276 of 2,306 recommendations) remained prominent in the climate adaptation literature. Common concepts include protected areas, invasive species, ecosystem services, adaptive management, stepping stones, assisted migration, and conservation easements. In contrast, only 1% of recommendations focused on reproduction (n = 26), survival (n = 14), disease (n = 26), or human‐wildlife conflict (n = 24). Few recommendations reflected the potential for local‐scale management interventions. We demonstrate limited advancement in preparing natural resource managers in climate adaptation at local, management‐relevant scales. Additional research is needed to identify and evaluate climate adaptation strategies aimed at reducing the vulnerability of wildlife to contemporary climate change.

Adaptive capacity (AC)-the ability of a species to cope with or accommodate climate change-is a critical determinant of species vulnerability. Using information on species' AC in conservation planning is key to ensuring successful outcomes. We identified connections between a list of species' attributes (e.g., traits, population metrics, and behaviors) that were recently proposed for assessing species' AC and management actions that may enhance AC for species at risk of extinction. Management actions were identified based on evidence from the literature, a review of actions used in other climate adaptation guidance, and our collective experience in diverse fields of global-change ecology and climate adaptation. Selected management actions support the general AC pathways of persist in place or shift in space, in response to contemporary climate change. Some actions, such as genetic manipulations, can be used to directly alter the ability of species to cope with climate change, whereas other actions can indirectly enhance AC by addressing ecological or anthropogenic constraints on the expression of a species' innate abilities to adapt. Ours is the first synthesis of potential management actions directly linked to AC. Focusing on AC attributes helps improve understanding of how and why aspects of climate are affecting organisms, as well as the mechanisms by which management interventions affect a species' AC and climate change vulnerability. Adaptive-capacity-informed climate adaptation is needed to build connections among the causes of vulnerability, AC, and proposed management actions that can facilitate AC and reduce vulnerability in support of evolving conservation paradigms.Aplicación de Evaluaciones de la Capacidad Adaptativa para Informar la Gestión de Recursos Naturales en un Clima Cambiante Resumen La capacidad adaptativa (CA) - la habilidad que tiene una especie para sobrellevar o acomodarse al cambio climático - es una determinante crítica de la vulnerabilidad de una especie. El uso de la información sobre la CA de una especie dentro de la planeación de la conservación es de suma importancia para asegurar resultados exitosos. Identificamos las conexiones entre una lista de atributos de las especies (p. ej.: características, métricas poblacionales, comportamientos) que fueron propuestos recientemente para la evaluación de la CA de las especies y las acciones de gestión que pueden mejorar la CA para las especies que se encuentran en riesgo de extinción. Las acciones de gestión fueron identificadas con base en la evidencia de la literatura, una revisión de acciones usadas en otras guías de adaptación climática y nuestra experiencia colectiva en diferentes campos de la ecología del cambio global y la adaptación climática. Ciertas acciones de gestión respaldan las vías generales de CA de persistir en el lugar o cambiar en el espacio como respuesta al cambio climático contemporáneo. Algunas acciones, como la manipulación genética, pueden usarse para alterar directamente la habilidad que tienen las especies para sobrellevar el cambio climático, mientras que otras acciones pueden mejorar indirectamente la CA al combatir las restricciones ecológicas o antropogénicas que existen sobre la expresión de las habilidades innatas de una especie para adaptarse. Nuestra síntesis es la primera que aborda acciones potenciales de gestión conectadas directamente con la CA. Enfocarse en los atributos de la CA ayuda a mejorar el conocimiento sobre cómo y por qué los aspectos climáticos están afectando a los organismos, así como los mecanismos mediante los cuales las intervenciones de gestión afectan la CA y la vulnerabilidad al cambio climático de la especie. La adaptación climática orientada por la capacidad adaptativa es necesaria para establecer conexiones entre las causas de la vulnerabilidad, la CA y las acciones de gestión propuestas que pueden facilitar la CA y reducir la vulnerabilidad como apoyo a los paradigmas cambiantes de la conservación.适应能力, 即物种应对或适应气候变化的能力, 是物种脆弱性的一个重要决定因素。在保护规划中应用关于物种适应能力的信息是确保保护成功的关键。本研究确定了最近提出的用于评估物种适应能力的一系列物种特征(如性状、种群指标、行为)与可能有助于提高濒危物种适应能力的管理行动之间的关系。其中, 管理行动是根据文献中的证据、对其它气候适应指南所应用的行动的综述, 以及我们在全球变化生态学和气候适应等不同领域的集体经验而确定的。一些特定的管理行动可以支持物种发挥适应能力的主要方式, 即通过继续留在原有栖息地或在空间中转移来应对当代的气候变化。还有一些管理行动, 如遗传操纵, 则可以直接改变物种应对气候变化的能力, 其它管理行动还可以通过解决生态或人为因素对物种发挥其先天适应能力的限制, 从而间接地加强适应能力。我们的研究首次综述了与适应能力直接相关的潜在管理行动。关注适应能力特征有助于帮助理解气候的各方面因素如何以及为什么会影响生物, 以及管理干预措施影响物种适应能力和对气候变化脆弱性的机制。未来仍需要以适应能力为基础的气候适应性研究, 来建立物种脆弱性成因、适应能力, 以及拟议的管理行动之间的关系, 提高物种适应能力并降低脆弱性, 从而支持不断发展的保护范式。【翻译: 胡怡思; 审校: 聂永刚】.

Statistically downscaled climate projections from nine global climate models (GCMs) are used to force a snow accumulation and ablation model (SNOW-17) across the central-eastern North American Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) to develop high-resolution projections of snowfall, snow depth, and winter severity index (WSI) by the middle and late twenty-first century. Here, projections of a cumulative WSI (CWSI) known to influence autumn–winter waterfowl migration are used to demonstrate the utility of SNOW-17 results. The application of statistically downscaled climate data and a snow model leads to a better representation of lake processes in the Great Lakes basin, topographic effects in the Appalachian Mountains, and spatial patterns of climatological snowfall, compared to the original GCMs. Annual mean snowfall is simulated to decline across the region, particularly in early winter (December–January), leading to a delay in the mean onset of the snow season. Because of a warming-induced acceleration of snowmelt, the percentage loss in snow depth exceeds that of snowfall. Across the Plains and Prairie Potholes LCC and the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes LCC, daily snowfall events are projected to become less common but more intense. The greatest reductions in the number of days per year with a present snowpack are expected close to the historical position of the −5°C isotherm in December–March, around 44°N. The CWSI is projected to decline substantially during December–January, leading to increased likelihood of delays in timing and intensity of autumn–winter waterfowl migrations.

As climate change moves insect systems into uncharted territory, more knowledge about insect dynamics and the factors that drive them could enable us to better manage and conserve insect communities. Climate change may also require us to revisit insect management goals and strategies and lead to a new kind of scientific engagement in management decision-making. Here we make five key points about the role of insect science in aiding and crafting management decisions, and we illustrate those points with the monarch butterfly and the Karner blue butterfly, two species undergoing considerable change and facing new management dilemmas. Insect biology has a strong history of engagement in applied problems, and as the impacts of climate change increase, a reimagined ethic of entomology in service of broader society may emerge. We hope to motivate insect biologists to contribute time and effort toward solving the challenges of climate change.

The Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) is listed as a threatened species throughout the southern extent of its geographic range in the United States. Most research on lynx has been conducted in the western United States and Canada; little is known about the ecology of lynx in eastern North America. To fill critical knowledge gaps about this species, we modeled and mapped lynx occurrence using habitat and weather data from 7 eastern states and 3 Canadian provinces. Annual snowfall, road density, bobcat (L. rufus) harvest, deciduous forest, and coniferous forest were compared at 1,150 lynx locations and 1,288 random locations. Nineteen a priori models were developed using the information–theoretic approach, and logistic regression models were ranked using Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) and by our ability to correctly classify reserved data (Kappa). Annual snowfall and deciduous forest predicted lynx presence and absence for a reserved dataset (n = 278) with 94% accuracy. A map of the probability of lynx occurrence throughout the region revealed that 92% of the potential habitat (i.e., >50% probability of occurrence) was concentrated in a relatively contiguous complex encompassing northern Maine, New Brunswick, and the Gaspe peninsula of Quebec. Most of the remaining potential habitat (5%) was on northern Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. Potential habitat in New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York was small (1,252 km2), fragmented, and isolated (>200 km) from known lynx populations. When federally listed as threatened in the contiguous United States in 2000, inadequate regulations on federal lands were cited as the primary threat to Canada lynx. However, the majority of potential lynx habitat in the eastern United States is on private lands and continuous with potential habitat in Canada. Therefore, lynx conservation in eastern North America will need to develop partnerships across national, state, and provincial boundaries as well as with private landowners.

The contiguous United States population of Canada lynx Lynx canadensis was listed as threatened in 2000. The long-term viability of lynx populations at the southern edge of their geographic range has been hypothesized to be dependent on old growth forests; however, lynx are a specialist predator on snowshoe hare Lepus americanus, a species associated with early-successional forests. To quantify the effects of succession and forest management on landscape-scale (100 km2) patterns of habitat occupancy by lynx, we compared landscape attributes in northern Maine, USA, where lynx had been detected on snow track surveys to landscape attributes where surveys had been conducted, but lynx tracks had not been detected. Models were constructed a priori and compared using logistic regression and Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC), which quantitatively balances data fit and parsimony. In the models with the lowest (i.e. best) AIC, lynx were more likely to occur in landscapes with much regenerating forest, and less likely to occur in landscapes with much recent clearcut, partial harvest and forested wetland. Lynx were not associated positively or negatively with mature coniferous forest. A probabilistic map of the model indicated a patchy distribution of lynx habitat in northern Maine. According to an additional survey of the study area for lynx tracks during the winter of 2003, the model correctly classified 63.5% of the lynx occurrences and absences. Lynx were more closely associated with young forests than mature forests; however, old-growth forests were functionally absent from the landscape. Lynx habitat could be reduced in northern Maine, given recent trends in forest management practices. Harvest strategies have shifted from clearcutting to partial harvesting. If this trend continues, future landscapes will shift away from extensive regenerating forests and toward landscapes dominated by polesized and larger stands. Because Maine presently supports the only verified populations of this federally threatened species in the eastern United States, changes in forest management practices could affect recovery efforts throughout that region.

Forest ecosystems across the Northwoods will face direct and indirect impacts from a changing climate over the 21st century. This assessment evaluates the vulnerability of forest ecosystems in the Laurentian Mixed Forest Province of northern Wisconsin and western Upper Michigan under a range of future climates. Information on current forest conditions, observed climate trends, projected climate changes, and impacts to forest ecosystems was considered in order to assess vulnerability to climate change. Upland spruce-fir, lowland conifers, aspen-birch, lowland-riparian hardwoods, and red pine forests were determined to be the most vulnerable ecosystems. White pine and oak forests were perceived as less vulnerable to projected changes in climate. These projected changes in climate and the associated impacts and vulnerabilities will have important implications for economically valuable timber species, forest-dependent wildlife and plants, recreation, and long-term natural resource planning.

Forests in northern Michigan will be affected directly and indirectly by a changing climate during the next 100 years. This assessment evaluates the vulnerability of forest ecosystems in Michigan's eastern Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula to a range of future climates. Information on current forest conditions, observed climate trends, projected climate changes, and impacts to forest ecosystems was considered in order to draw conclusions on climate change vulnerability. Upland spruce-fir forests were determined to be the most vulnerable, whereas oak associations and barrens were determined to be less vulnerable to projected changes in climate. Projected changes in climate and the associated ecosystem impacts and vulnerabilities will have important implications for economically valuable timber species, forest-dependent wildlife and plants, recreation, and long-range planning.

Projected changes in the relative abundance and timing of autumn-winter migration are assessed for seven dabbling duck species across the Mississippi and Atlantic Flyways for the mid- and late 21st century. Species-specific observed relationships are established between cumulative weather severity in autumn-winter and duck population rate of change. Dynamically downscaled projections of weather severity are developed using a high-resolution regional climate model, interactively coupled to a one-dimensional lake model to represent the Great Lakes and associated lake-effect snowfall. Based on the observed relationships and downscaled climate projections of rising air temperatures and reduced snow cover, delayed autumn-winter migration is expected for all species, with the least delays for the Northern Pintail and the greatest delays for the Mallard. Indeed, the Mallard, the most common and widespread duck in North America, may overwinter in the Great Lakes region by the late 21st century. This highlights the importance of protecting and restoring wetlands across the mid-latitudes of North America, including the Great Lakes Basin, because dabbling ducks are likely to spend more time there, which would impact existing wetlands through increased foraging pressure. Furthermore, inconsistency in the timing and intensity of the traditional autumn-winter migration of dabbling ducks in the Mississippi and Atlantic Flyways could have social and economic consequences to communities to the south, where hunting and birdwatching would be affected.

American martens (Martes americana) and fishers (M. pennanti) require large areas and live in complex, interacting communities of medium and large size carnivores. Nevertheless, habitat studies of these species continue to emphasize mid-to fine-scale habitat relationships, and rarely examine interspecific relations. Based on our data on foot-loading (ratio of body mass to total foot area) for fishers and martens, and snowfall patterns across eastern north america, we conclude that broader-scale habitat and interspecific relations of these 2 species may affect their regional distributions. Although foot-loading was influenced by sex (P 2 times greater (P