This web tool is meant to support the selection of protected areas for populations of concern under climate change. A population is defined and climatically characterized by level-4 ecosystem delineations for North America. The tool then finds protected areas that provide suitable climate habitat under observed and protected climate change, using a scaled Euclidean multivariate climate distance metric (see: Readme.pdf for details).
For selecting reserves, preference is first given to IUCN categories IV reserves, which most readily allow for assisted migration and restoration activities, followed by category I to III reserves, then less stringently protected V and VI reserves, followed by non-classified reserves. The second selection criterion is that reserves should contain at least 50 sq km of suitable climate habitat (before considering a lower ranked IUCN category).
While the tool should be applicable to populations of any species, this research project is motivated by in situ conservation of genetic populations of forest tree species. As such, we provide additional guidance for protected area selection by quantifying climatically suitable habitat for the 243 most common tree species of North America.
