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CLIMATE CHANGE ALBERTAS BIODIVERSITY 53Contrarytoexpectationsuncertaintyaboutthe stateofAlbertasavifaunadeclineswithlonger timehorizonsbecauseofthelargemagnitude oftheprojectedchange.Moredetailedanalysis suggestedthatgreateruncertaintywasassoci- atedwithspeciesofdeciduousforestsbecause theyarestronglydependentonmoisture conditionsandthereforemoresensitivetothe climatemodelemployed.Forthemajorityof speciesGCMuncertaintywasmuchlarger thanmodelordatauncertaintyhighlightingthe needforscenarioplanningaswellasadaptive monitoringandmanagementasmoredataare collected.Forseveralsubarcticspecieshowever highuncertaintywasrelatedtodatagapsthat shouldbeaddressed. In some cases consistent outcomes have emerged from individual studies in which uncertainty was not explicitly addressed. For example multiple independent analyses suggest the wetter Foothills Natural Region and higher elevation hill systems are likely to remain climatically suitable for a large diversity of boreal species in the future Stolar and Nielsen in revision Stralberg in revision Stralberg et al. 2014 while grassland species are likely to expand into the drier boreal plains region Nixon et al. 2015 Schneider 2013 Stralberg and Bayne 2013. How can uncertainty be incorporated into planning and decision-making Uncertainty about the way climate change will affect biodiversity does not necessarily mean that we cannot make effective management decisions. Natural resource planning usually uses a deterministic approach in which the management approach chosen is the one most likely to achieve the desired result based on the assumption that future conditions can be predicted. For example maintaining forest inventory dictates harvest levels based on growth and yield estimates. However if forest productivity changes with the changing climate current harvest levels may no longer meet stated goals. Richard Schneider 2014 explored several options for advancing biodiversity-related planning in the face of climate change uncer- tainty. One approach is a no regrets strategy designed to produce acceptable if not ideal management outcomes across a wide range of potential futures. Another approach is bet hedging in which a variety of strategies is applied simultaneously across the landscape with the expectation that some will be more effective than others. This approach can be evolved into a classic adaptive management approach in which the better alternatives are identified and adopted more broadly. A triage approach is contentious in that it entails shifting from trying to save all species to making a conscious decision to invest resources into saving certain species while accepting losses of others. Fromacommunityadaptationperspective ecosystem-basedadaptationhelpstoaddressthe uncertaintyassociatedwithplanningforclimate change.Becausetheyhavemultiplebenefits thesestrategiesarelower-riskinlightofthe uncertaintyassociatedwithpredictingtheexact impactsofclimatechangeonacommunity.