Conclusions and Future Directions
March 2018
CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS
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by Amber D. Pairis, Udara Abeysekera, Julie Kalansky, Dan Cayan, and Megan K. Jennings
an Diego County is part of a biologically diverse and unique landscape that will be impacted in multifold ways due to current and future climatic variability (Table 2). This assessment serves as an important first step in understanding the state of the science which is critical to evaluating the vulnerability of systems, communities, and populations. Conducting the assessment has provided a summary of a wealth of known information, and a better appreciation of the large number of unknowns that will impact the region under a changing climate. In addition, we have highlighted the information needed to move
forward with management and decision-making. While there is still uncertainty about exactly how some of these changes will play out across the landscape, the findings from this assessment indicate enough knowledge exists to offer insights into managing natural resources throughout the ecoregion and across jurisdictional boundaries in the face of a changing climate. The characteristics that make San Diego unique with respect to climate and ecosystems include its remarkable variability of precipitation, coastal low clouds and fog, the region’s human population and associated development,
FIGURE18: Cross-cutting issues and impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity
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