Wildlife Habitat Connectivity and Climate Adaptation

As climate zones shift, animals need to move to track suitable habitat — connectivity is essential for this climate-driven range shift to be possible.

Key Facts

Species are shifting their ranges poleward and to higher elevations as temperatures rise
Habitat fragmentation prevents many species from tracking shifting climate zones
Climate velocity — the speed at which climate zones move — exceeds dispersal ability for some species
Landscape connectivity projects that link habitat fragments enable climate-driven range shifts
Assisted colonization — human-aided species movement — is proposed for species facing climate barriers

Welfare Considerations

Animals unable to move to suitable climate habitat face prolonged stress and mortality from increasingly unsuitable conditions — a form of climate-driven welfare harm distinct from direct habitat loss. Heat stress, food availability changes, and altered predator-prey relationships in rapidly changing climates affect individual welfare before causing population-level impacts. Connectivity infrastructure that allows climate-driven range shifts is simultaneously a conservation and welfare intervention.

What You Can Do

Support landscape connectivity projects that link habitat fragments across climate gradients
Advocate for land use policies that maintain wildlife corridors from current to future suitable habitat
Donate to organizations working on climate adaptation in wildlife conservation contexts
Learn about the climate velocity concept and its implications for wildlife movement needs
Support conservation science research into assisted colonization ethics and methods