Institute for the Study of Ecological and Evolutionary Climate Impacts • ISEECIThe UC-wide Institute for the Study of Ecological and Evolutionary Climate Impacts (ISEECI) offers a platform for synthesizing past, current and future environmental change research, and for understanding and potentially mitigating future climate impacts. ISEECI leverages the UC Natural Reserve System as a biologically and geographically diverse laboratory to study the effects of climate change on California ecosystems. Led by a consortium of UC scientists, ISEECI coordinates mechanistic studies and biotic surveys across broad geographic scales. Through this network, we seek to test the feasibility of novel approaches for discovering ecosystem-wide responses to climate change. We then assess how inferences collected across sites might be used to mitigate impacts to ecosystems, ecosystem services and cascading impacts on human systems. We are developing “next generation” sampling protocols to capture ecological, genetic and physiological responses. This information will provide an integrated understanding of the impact of climate change on California’s biota and the services these organisms provide. Goals
Feedback among these three aims will catalyze new experiments to take critical measurements and test key mechanisms underlying our hypotheses and model predictions. ISEECI will launch initial surveys at 24 NRS reserves (yellow circles) and 4 other key sites (red) that form north/south and east/west gradients across northern, central, and southern CA. These gradients cross transition zones needed to predict and understand patterns of climate change. Gradients are critical for understanding variations in responses because they capture geographic differences in climatic change experienced across the state. Additionally, sites with different climates can be used as proxies for understanding and testing biotic impacts of climate change. MissionThe mission of the ISEECI is to enable large-scale and coordinated research focused on 1) identifying mechanisms by which climate drives ecological and evolutionary processes and 2) detecting vulnerabilities and predicting outcomes of climate change for human systems and sustainability. Utilizing the diverse habitats encompassed by UC Natural Reserves and adjacent lands, our goals are to create an informed and engaged citizenry, facilitate wise stewardship of California’s biodiversity, and influence climate-related public policy. NRS Reserves in initial ISEECI studies | |
Northern Central Southern Non-NRS reserves |  |