What’s the Problem?

Biodiversity encompasses the whole variety of life on Earth. It includes all species of plants and animals, but also their genetic variation, and the complex ecosystems of which they are part. It is not restricted to rare or threatened species but includes the whole of the natural world from the commonplace to the critically endangered (Defra, 2008).

Implications of a changing climate for biodiversity include factors such as the changing range and distribution of species as their habitat reacts to climate change, alterations to breeding and activity periods for some species and the production of potentially serious knock-on effects on some habitats and species due to disruption of delicate balances and inter-relationships between species. Some key issues are:

• Changes to the timing of the seasons may disrupt the synchronisation between species, e.g. the availability of food for blue tits during their breeding season.
• Drought or more frequent fires may damage important habitats such as lowland heathland.
• Changes in species distribution and abundance within habitats. For example, the arrival and spread of non-native and invasive species may alter community composition and out-compete local flora and fauna.
• The potential spread and increase of problem species and pathogens that might usually have been ‘checked’ by climate, such as disease-carrying mites, that are usually killed off by frosts.
• Loss of some species as their habitat range contracts northwards, but gain of others with a southerly distribution.
• Species which require a spell of low temperatures for seed germination may be affected.

The Monarch Report

MONARCH (Modelling Natural Resources Responses to Climate Change) is a seven year programme developed to assess the impacts of projected climate change on wildlife in Britain and Ireland. It modelled potential for changes in a range of 120 UK Biodiversity Action Plan species and considered 32 of these species, found in 12 different habitats, in detail.

MONARCH does not predict where individual species will expand or contract their distributions. Instead, it points to where the climate is likely to become favourable or unfavourable for them, and thereby influence their future distribution. Of the 32 UK BAP species considered in detail: 15 were predicted to gain, 8 to lose, 3 to have no significant change and 6 to both gain and lose, moving northwards. Significant changes in range for 90% of the species showed the need for measures to increase species’ capacity to disperse through the landscape.

Bodies that have a role in protecting biodiversity in Staffordshire include Natural England, Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, the county and district councils, the Environment Agency, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, British Waterways the Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group, British Trust for Conservation Volunteers and the Forestry Commission. There are also numerous conservation groups dedicated to protecting particular species or sites.

In order to preserve our biodiversity, adaptation strategies, such as the following, are being developed and implemented:

• Improvement of protection and management of existing designated sites and important habitats;
• Planning for biodiversity on a landscape scale – policies and projects for the maintenance, development and enhancement of habitat networks, aimed at creating a more ecologically resilient landscape that allows species to move through the countryside and urban areas;
• Review of planting schemes and site management plans to ensure they account for climate change effects:
• Review of maintenance procedures such as hedge cutting and pond management to account for changing species breeding and activity timescales;
• Farming Floodplains for the Future - an innovative project, funded by Defra that works with farmers towards managing land in river floodplains for flood alleviation and biodiversity.

The West Midlands Biodiversity Strategy

The West Midlands Region contains a wide variety of wildlife and landscapes, but in recent decades our plants and animals have suffered major declines, and there are continuing pressures from changing land uses and climate change. Meeting these challenges is the aim of ‘Restoring the Region’s Wildlife,’ the Regional Biodiversity Strategy for the West Midlands, which was launched in 2005.

The Strategy was produced by the West Midlands Biodiversity Partnership and the West Midlands Regional Assembly, to ensure biodiversity is recognised in regional policies and plans and to challenge those working at the regional level to do what they can for wildlife.

The Staffordshire Biodiversity Action Plan

The Staffordshire Biodiversity Action Plan (SBAP) has been in place since 1998. It is used by a wide variety of partners throughout the county in developing policy, targeting priorities and accessing funding for biodiversity action. The SBAP consists of action plans for important habitats and species and is managed by a partnership that works together towards achieving biodiversity targets. Within a framework of existing and new initiatives, the UK and Local BAPs are key contributions to the achievement of biodiversity targets committed to by the UK government. Reviews of the action plans take account of the implications of climate change.

For further information, log on to the Staffordshire Biodiversity Action Plan (SBAP) portal.