Where the wild things go: finding and creating refugia from climate change in Northern Britain

该项目将确定预测避难所小气候缓冲潜力的变量。将特别关注重新开垦的地点，其特点是移除或减少景观中的人为干预。随着全球气温的升高，物种的活动范围向极地和更高的海拔方向转移，科学家和土地管理人员必须通力合作，帮助迁徙和移动。到目前为止，研究的重点是识别具有高缓冲能力的景观特征。这些因素包括：森林覆盖率和可用水增加，从而可以降低气温和增加湿度；海拔较高，在海拔较高的地貌中提供较凉爽的区域；地形异质性，在崎岖的地形上提供凉爽的空气。这些个别研究强调了避难所形成的可能性，但我们对这些缓冲如何相互作用以加强或抑制彼此的影响知之甚少。此外，我们对野生动物保护区内的避难所形成和小气候条件的时空机制知之甚少。本博士论文旨在解决的一些研究问题是：1)小气候缓冲区添加剂在自然界中的改善效果是否因此更稳定？2)时间或空间尺度对景观的缓冲潜力有什么影响？3)这些缓冲区是否被考虑并实施到积极的野生动物保护项目中，作为在变暖的世界中减少生物多样性损失的一种手段？

This project will identify variables that predict the microclimatic buffering potential of refugia. There will be a particular focus on rewilding sites, characterised by the removal or reduction of human intervention within the landscape. As species shift their range poleward and to higher altitudes with increasing global temperatures, scientists and land managers must work cohesively to assist migration and movement. To date, studies have focussed on the identification of landscape characteristics with high buffering capacity. These include increased forest canopy cover and water availability which can reduce temperatures and increase humidity; higher altitude which provides cooler regions within elevated landscapes, and topographical heterogeneity which provides cool-air pockets along a rugged terrain. These individual studies highlight the potential for refugia to form, yet we know little of how these buffers may interact to reinforce or dampen the effect of each other. Furthermore, we know little of the spatial and temporal mechanisms which drive refugial formation and microclimate conditions within rewilding sites.Some of the research questions this PhD aims to address are:1) Are the ameliorative effects of microclimate buffers' additive in nature, therefore more stable? 2) What impact do temporal or spatial scales have on the buffering potential of a landscape? 3) Are these buffers being considered and implemented into active rewilding projects as a means of reducing biodiversity loss in a warming world?