Supporting rainforest biodiversity in a changing climate

Abstract

Climate change threatens the biodiversity of Australia’s Wet Tropics rainforests. But dedicated scientists are investigating practical ways to help biodiversity now, and increase their resilience in the future, using climate refugia. The Wet Tropics rainforests are considered an Australian conservation success story. In 1988, around 50 per cent of the Wet Tropics Bioregion was declared a World Heritage Area (WHA), a decision based largely on the region’s outstanding biodiversity assets; the region contains a high proportion of Australia’s vertebrate biodiversity and more than 80 regionally endemic species. However, land outside the WHA is still largely unprotected and forest clearance prior to WHA listing resulted in a highly fragmented landscape in some areas. Scientists also expect climate change to impact biodiversity in the Wet Tropics. Longer dry seasons are forecast, with higher temperatures which will lift the cloud base to higher altitudes and increase