Pockets of landscape less prone than adjacent areas to disturbances like fire and drought may hold the key for scientists, conservationists and land managers seeking to preserve vulnerable species in a changing climate.
Pockets of landscape less prone than adjacent areas to disturbances like fire and drought may hold the key for scientists, conservationists and land managers seeking to preserve vulnerable species in a changing climate.
These areas, categorized as “disturbance refugia,” are becoming a focal point for ecologists trying to learn why change doesn’t occur as quickly in some landscapes as it does in others nearby.
“In the Pacific Northwest, the iconic northern spotted owl relies on refugia in the form of old-growth forests,” said Oregon State University forest ecologist Meg Krawchuk. “These forests are refugia from previous stand-replacing disturbances – that’s how they got to be old – but they’re slowly being nibbled away by recent high-severity fires.”
Known informally as the “lifeboats” or “slow lanes” of biodiversity, refugia have spawned the new field of refugia science, which is the theme of the June issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.
Read more at Oregon State University
Image Credit: Oregon State University
