Ecosystems: Climate Change Vulnerability and Resilience

• Published in: ECAS 2022
• Main Authors: Oksana N. Lipka, Tatiana B. Shishkina
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2022
• Subjects: biometeorology and climate change; weather sensitivity; biomes; ecosystems; climate change adaptation; Arctic; Climate change
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/ecas2022-12836

Since 1976, mean annual temperature in Russia has been rising at 0.47 °C per decade (in the Arctic at 1 °C per decade). This process determines shifts in biome boundaries and large-scale ecosystem restructuring. Biome boundaries should have moved 400 to 500 km northwards in the Arctic and 200 to 300 km northwards in other climate zones and are likely to shift another 200–500 km to the north. Arctic, mountain, steppe, and the Far East ecosystems are the most vulnerable to adverse climate change. Creation of protected areas has become a priority measure for the adaptation of ecosystems. On average, protected areas (PAs) of federal significance account for 7.6 percent of a biome territory across the country. However, in five biomes no PA has been established. For the purpose of effective adaptation to climate change it is advisable to increase the total territory covered by all-category PAs to 17 percent of each biome.