Autonomous adaptation to climate-driven change in marine biodiversity in a global marine hotspot

• Published in: Ambio Vol. 48; no. 12; pp. 1498 - 1515
• Main Authors: Pecl, Gretta T., Ogier, Emily, Jennings, Sarah, van Putten, Ingrid, Crawford, Christine, Fogarty, Hannah, Frusher, Stewart, Hobday, Alistair J., Keane, John, Lee, Emma, MacLeod, Catriona, Mundy, Craig, Stuart-Smith, Jemina, Tracey, Sean
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Science + Business Media 01-12-2019; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adaptation; Atmospheric Sciences; Australia; Biodiversity; BIODIVERSITY CHANGE AND HUMAN ADAPTATION; Climate; Climate adaptation; Climate Change; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Ecosystem; Environment; Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology; Environmental Management; Global warming; Humans; Natural resource management; Natural resources; Physical Geography; Australia; Climate change; Indigenous knowledge; Species redistribution; Autonomous adaptation; Marine biodiversity; Local knowledge
• ISSN: 0044-7447; 1654-7209
• DOI: 10.1007/s13280-019-01186-x

While governments and natural resource managers grapple with how to respond to climatic changes, many marine-dependent individuals, organisations and user-groups in fast-changing regions of the world are already adjusting their behaviour to accommodate these. However, we have little information on the nature of these autonomous adaptations that are being initiated by resource user-groups. The east coast of Tasmania, Australia, is one of the world’s fastest warming marine regions with extensive climate-driven changes in biodiversity already observed. We present and compare examples of autonomous adaptations from marine users of the region to provide insights into factors that may have constrained or facilitated the available range of autonomous adaptation options and discuss potential interactions with governmental planned adaptations. We aim to support effective adaptation by identifying the suite of changes that marine users are making largely without government or management intervention, i.e. autonomous adaptations, to better understand these and their potential interactions with formal adaptation strategies.