Speaker: Dr Max Kotz, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impacts

Title: Climate impact attribution for wildlife species

Abstract: Climate change and biodiversity loss are the defining environmental crises of our era. They are also inextricably linked. This talk will show how emerging methods in climate-impact attribution can be applied to biodiversity contexts, to understand and quantify the role of climate change in driving biodiversity loss. Drawing on recent work on heat extremes and birds, we will explore how time-series based modelling approaches can be coupled with counterfactual analysis to (i) understand the climate conditions most relevant for wildlife species, and (ii) quantify the decline of species attributable to human-driven climate change. These approaches can help shed light on effective approaches to the conservation of species and biodiversity, crucial as climate change continues to intensify.

Our Departmental Seminars run weekly on Thursdays during term time. They cover recent research on a wide variety of topics from evolutionary genetics through behavioural ecology to ecology and natural history.  

Everyone in Zoology is invited, and Part II undergraduate zoologists are particularly encouraged to attend.  Please click here for a list of all of this term's seminars.