San diego zoo institute for conservation

Climate Change Challenge: bigger, hotter fires

Grant Award: $198,400; Year Awarded: 2013

Historically, land use change was the primary threat to coastal sage scrub habitat, reducing available habitat for wildlife, introducing invasive plant species and altering the fire regime. Climate change is predicted to intensify all of these problems with increased fire frequency favoring exotic, invasive plants species over natives. This may lead to coastal sage scrub being replaced by an exotic grassland with more frequent fires. This project will promote ecosystem resilience to climatic perturbations and to predicted increases in fire frequency by reducing invasive cover and by planting coastal sage species.