Date of Award
6-2021
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in GIS for Development and Environment (GISDE)
Department
International Development, Community and Environment
Chief Instructor
Florencia Sangermano
Keywords
Priority Conservation Areas, Environmental Changes, Bioclimate Variables
Abstract
Nowadays, global warming is unignorable. In response, climate changes have caused impacts on natural and human systems on all continents and across the oceans, which means that global species' distributions, populations, and other activities are highly affected by climate change (AR5 Synthesis Report, n.d.). Therefore, studying environmental changes to identify priority protected areas is of significance to species protection. In this study, 19 global bioclimatic variables from 1979 to 2019 were developed and used to evaluate temporal trends. The variables include annual averages, seasonality, and climatic extremes. As these variables are known to limit species physiological performance, changes in these variables can be related to the distributional effects of biological organisms. The species distribution data from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ (IUCN 2020) was used to calculate birds' diversity. Finally, global Priority Conservation Areas for birds were identified by combining the temporal change in 19 bioclimatic variables with birds' diversity.
Recommended Citation
Wang, Qihui, "EVALUATING GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES FROM 1979 TO 2019, TO IDENTIFY PRIORITY CONSERVATION AREAS FOR BIRDS" (2021). International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE). 253.
https://commons.clarku.edu/idce_masters_papers/253