Hazard Risk Resilience Magazine Volume 1 Issue1 | Page 4

RESEARCH
HIGHLIGHTS
IHRR

Climate change causing
plants, animals and insects
to move north and to higher
elevations

© Jim Asher, Butterfly Conservation

Plant, animal and insect species are moving north and to higher places
in regions of the world that have the greatest levels of warming, according
to a study co-authored by Dr Ralf Ohlemüller that was published in
Science. Ohlemüller and his research team calculated how far species
were expected to move if warming trends due to climate change were to
increase. They found that a large variety of species from butterflies to
birds and mammals have been moving north as expected in search of
a suitable climate. Using 54 previous studies on the impact of climate
change on the movement of more than 2000 different species, they
demonstrated a statistical linkage between species’ rate of movements
to higher elevations and latitudes and areas that have the highest
levels of warming due to climate change. This study is the first to link
a wide range of species together that have been impacted by the Earth’s
changing climate due to human production of greenhouse gases.
‘Rapid Range Shifts of Species Associated with High Levels of Climate
Warming’. Science, 333, 6045 DOI: 10.1126/science.1206432

New insights into the
impacts of EPSRC research
A study by Dr Matthew Kearnes and Dr Matthias Wienroth
reveals how the distinction between science and politics is
‘utilised as a resource in both sustaining an institutional
identity and developing political strategies’. They concluded
that measuring and quantifying the impacts made by public
research funding are used as devices to render science
and research valuable. The EPSRC in effect reframes ideas
of research excellence by adopting different conceptual
strategies such as widening the meaning of ‘impact’ to
include societal and policy impacts along with economic
ones. (See ‘The Power of Science’ p.37 of this issue).

Climate change expected
to impact UK’s older population
Extreme weather events due to climate change are expected to increase
in the UK within the next 30 years that will affect built infrastructure
depended on by older people. A study from IHRR’s BIOPICCC (Built
Infrastructure for Older People’s Care in Conditions of Climate Change)
project led by Dr Katie Oven and Prof Sarah Curtis, has mapped future
risks of extreme weather along with the growth of older populations
in England. The study includes work from Dr Ralf Ohlemüller, Dr Sim
Reaney and Dr Mylène Riva. Researchers found that some areas of
the UK likely to experience extreme weather events such as floods and
heatwaves will also have large concentrations of older people in the future
requiring adaptations to be made. The study has produced maps that
identify parts of England where resilience strategies will be most needed
and severely tested in adapting older people’s health and social care
facilities to climate change. (See ‘Built Infrastructure for Older People’s
Care in Conditions of Climate Change’ p.24 of this issue.)

‘Tools of the Trade: UK Research Intermediaries and
the Politics of Impacts’. Minerva, 49, 2 DOI: 10.1007/s
11024-011-9172-4

Climate Change and Health and Social Care: Defining Future Hazard,
Vulnerability and Risk for Infrastructure Systems Supporting Older
People’s Health Care in England. Applied Geography, 33: 16-24
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2011.05.012