RZS NSW Forum 2024. Wildlife and the Climate Emergency: Past, Present and Prospects

Climate change continues to affect ecosystems and humanity more broadly, yet we are still trying to understand how wildlife are responding. The 2024 Royal Zoological Society of NSW scientific forum will bring together speakers from diverse fields to focus on:

(1) what we can learn from the past, in terms of wildlife responses to shifting climates through Earth’s history,

(2) wildlife responses to the industrial-era warming of our oceans and continents, and

(3) the prospects for wildlife in the future, including how they might be affected by climate mitigation and adaptation strategies.

As the world continues to grapple with extreme climatic conditions because of escalating global temperatures, our wildlife are forced to respond. Such responses may be a deciding factor in predicting species’ susceptibility to this threat to biodiversity. We must therefore learn how species are surviving climate-related responses including exceptional heat waves, warming oceans, extreme weather, megafires, floods and even zoonotic disease and invasive species spread. But we must also consider how wildlife might benefit from habitat manipulation or technological approaches being used, or considered, to reduce our climate footprint. The escalating problem of climate change requires diverse voices and novel ideas, and this forum will provide ample opportunity for discussion and debate about how we can best address the uncharted territory that life on planet Earth is now experiencing.

The Royal Zoological Society of NSW welcomes submissions of 200 word abstracts for both speaking and poster presentations on the day.

Please send your abstracts to: Pat.Hutchings@Australian.Museum

Due: 31 May 2024.

The Royal Zoological Society of NSW also welcomes papers from both speakers and poster presenters to capture your ideas from the day in the format of a peer reviewed publication. These will be published along with extended abstracts from all presenters in the Society’s journal Australian Zoologist.