Global Climate Change and California’s Natural Ecosystems

Nationally, there are many reasons why considerable attention should be focused on the impact of climatic change on California: it has great biological diversity, many endangered and threatened species, a number of important national parks and national forests, and its forests and wildlife are a familiar symbol worldwide for biological conservation (see fig. 1 for a representation of present California ecosystems). If projections of global climate models are correct, the natural ecosystems of California might undergo major changes during the next century. Such changes might include large economic losses in timber, fisheries, and recreation; major changes in our national and