Using the NatureServe Climate Change Vulnerability Index: A Nevada Case Study
The State of Nevada is amending its State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) to incorporate the potential effects of climate change in more detail. The Nevada Department of Wildlife, The Nature Conservancy, Nevada Natural Heritage Program (a NatureServe network member program), Lahontan Audubon Society, and Great Basin Bird Observatory have formed a partnership to complete the amendment. Nevada's SWAP was approved in 2006, and although it identified climate change as a stressor to key habitats and species of conservation concern in a few specific areas, it did not address the degree of vulnerability each species may face due to a warming climate.
The initial focus of the amended SWAP is on assessing the vulnerability of Nevada's 263 Conservation Priority animal species, using the NatureServe Climate Change Vulnerability Index. The partnership hopes to eventually expand the application of the Index to plants and other Nevada species. The study also lists the factors that contributed to the vulnerability scores in order to highlight how climate change will have the greatest effect on the species assessed.
For more information, the NatureServe Climate Change Vulnerability Index is reviewed in this Clearinghouse also.
Publication Date: August 2009
Authors or Affiliated Users:
- Bruce E. Young
- Elizabeth Byers
- Kelly Gravuer
- Kimberly R. Hall
- Geoffrey A. Hammerson
- Alan Redder
- Kristin Szabo
- Jennifer E. Newmark
Related Organizations:
- NatureServe
- Nevada Department of Wildlife
- The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
Sectors:
- Biodiversity and ecosystems
- Fish and fisheries
- Wildlife
Resource Category:
Resource Types:
- Assessment
- Case study
States Affected:
Impacts:
- Air temperature
- Precipitation changes
