Climate Change Vulnerability Index: Species

Submitted by nature_admin on Tue, 03/02/2021 - 23:31

The NatureServe Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI) is a tool for evaluating climate change vulnerability of plant and animal species. Using the CCVI, you apply readily available information about a species’ exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity to predict its relative vulnerability to climate change. You can use the CCVI as part of a variety of analyses, including assessing the relative risk of species listed in State Wildlife Action Plans or those undergoing Species Status Assessments.

Why assess climate change vulnerability?

Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments (CCVAs) are a key tool for informing conservation planning and enable natural-resource management professionals to identify and prioritize the most effective adaptation strategies. CCVAs help with identifying which species are likely to be most strongly affected by projected changes, and understanding why these species are likely to be vulnerable, including the interaction between climate change and other existing stressors.

The NatureServe Climate Change Vulnerability Index translates research findings into actionable information that enable practitioners and policymakers to identify emerging and anticipated threats to biodiversity. The tool also supports regional approaches and broader contexts thanks to its reliance on standardized data that extends across state boundaries. Understanding a species vulnerability to climate change enables practitioners to determine the most appropriate and effective management responses for increasing the resiliency of at-risk species.

Features & Benefits

The CCVI provides a rapid, cost-effective means of estimating a plant, fungus, or animal species’ relative vulnerability to climate change. It combines readily accessible information on the eco-evolutionary biology and management of the species with downscaled climate projections. The CCVI can be used for both rare and common species—an important factor given that overall conservation status has proven to be an unreliable proxy for vulnerability to climate change.

The CCVI separates vulnerability into its three primary components: a species’ exposure to climate change within a particular assessment area, its inherent sensitivity to climate change, and its adaptive capacity. The tool gauges scientifically documented factors and indicators of these components, as well as documented responses to climate change, where they exist.

Results fall into one of five categories:

Less Vulnerable

Moderately Vulnerable

Highly Vulnerable

Extremely Vulnerable

Insufficient Evidence

Resource managers, planners, and conservationists can use the CCVI to:

Conduct rapid assessments of the relative vulnerability of both rare and common species to climate change
Identify the most critical risk factors for groups of species
Highlight target species that warrant more in-depth study and research
Detect areas containing high concentrations of species threatened by climate change impacts
Determine which expected climate impacts will be most or least significant for a species
Determine which impacts can be managed by enhancing the adaptive capacity of a species
Complement conservation status assessments to set conservation priorities across jurisdictional boundaries
Promote coordination, consistency, and efficiency of planning and managing for adaptation
Provide valuable input on species in key planning documents such as State Wildlife Action Plans

About CCVI 4.0

A new collaboration between NatureServe and the USGS Climate Adaptation Science Centers (CASCs) has modernized the Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI) for the next generation of natural-resource management professionals. With this release, the CCVI makes leading-edge climate science even easier for practitioners to leverage, while providing important information for prioritizing and planning conservation efforts. Since the last version of the CCVI was released in 2015, there have been numerous advances in both our understanding of how climate affects wildlife and the technology for developing user-friendly tools. NatureServe actively incorporates that new knowledge into our databases, tools, and services. Completed in 2024, release 4.0 of the NatureServe Climate Change Vulnerability Index reflects these advances in our understanding of how climate change affects plants and animals.

CCVI 4.0 includes several new features:

New metrics for how species can adapt to or cope with climate change
Updated climate exposure data for the conterminous 48 US states and a comparison of vulnerability results across two emissions scenarios

NatureServe and the USGS CASCs are working collaboratively to explore, pilot, and test further improvements to the CCVI 4.0 algorithm, working directly with state and other end-user partners to refine the tool for the greatest benefit. Additional improvements are planned, including a web-hosted platform that facilitates collaboration among users, and, for 2025, expanded uncertainty metrics and the inclusion of additional climate exposure variables and scenarios planning features.

Download CCVI 4.0 Guidelines

Download the Workbook

For calculating climate exposure in the Excel workbook, users have the option of using state-level exposure values, which are embedded in the workbook, or using GIS to calculate exposure for the distribution of a species within an assessment area. You can download the climate exposure data by clicking the links below. See the Guidelines for details on the derivation of the climate exposure data.

Download Climate Exposure Data