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INDNOR-India-programmet

Predicting biodiversity responses on tropical mountaintops and in forest canopies under climate change

Awarded: NOK 0.13 mill.

2010 is the United Nation's International Year of Biodiversity. The focus on biodiversity is extremely timely, as we face a critical shortage of biodiversity data needed to meet the primary challenges facing conservation - particularly in light of current climate change projections. A number of studies have shown that a warming climate have caused changes in species distributions and abundance, and may lead to mass extinctions. However, the extent of the effects still remains largely unexplored in species -rich tropical ecosystems. This is ominous since extinctions of species from climate change are projected to be most numerous in the tropics, and data on observed responses to climate warming are therefore urgently required to develop strategies to minimi se biodiversity losses. This project will explicitly tackle the above shortfalls, and involve systematic biodiversity surveys of tropical mountain forests and forest canopies, designed to significantly enhance our knowledge of potential effects of clima te change on tropical forest biodiversity. Tropical mountaintops and forest canopies are likely to be highly sensitive to the magnitude and rapidity of projected climatic change due to their extreme and marginal environments. Using a relatively unexplored Indian setting in the Western Ghats Mountains, we aim to 1) model potential changes in fauna and flora in response to climate change based on collections along an altitudinal gradient; 2) establish a permanent, long-term monitoring scheme to evaluate dir ect effects on flora and fauna over time. Results will give us robust estimates and identities of species threatened with extinction through climate change and provide information to build guidelines for appropriate long-term conservation measures in the region. The project will thus strengthen national policies to protect biodiversity and provide the foundation upon which we can build sustained conservation efforts.

Funding scheme:

INDNOR-India-programmet

Funding Sources