Another essential dimension of priorities: Spatial heterogeneity and temporal stability of climate refugia

Abstract

Prioritization analysis with climate dynamics has become a critical, complex, and popular topic for conservation planning, providing opportunities for achieving co-benefits of climate stabilization, biodiversity conservation, and other goals. Here, we constructed a prioritization framework to inform the development of conservation policies or actions, further including the spatial heterogeneity and temporal stability characteristics of climate refugia. We then used China as a study area to identify priorities and assess the effectiveness of existing protected areas. Compared with the classical spatial prioritization approach, the priorities incorporating climatic characteristics cover, on average, 0.88 and 2.79 times more areas with low climatic velocities and high heterogeneity, respectively. By analyzing the proportion of various types of land use in the priorities, we found that grasslands play an essential role in species protection and climate regulation. Specifically, the percentage of grasslands in the priorities is about 30 %, ranking second to forests. Similarly, we identified prominent conservation gaps in China's protected area network, as evidenced by the insufficient emphasis on grassland and inadequate coverage of climate refugia. Our approach emphasizes the importance of integrating climate planning into conservation priorities and guiding conservation management and policy to achieve conservation goals in a climate-smart way.