Understanding the Ecological Impacts of Climate Change in the 
Mid-Atlantic Region of the United States

John A. Taylor(1) and Alejandra M. Bozzolasco(2)

(1)Professor and Director of the Doctoral Program In Environmental Management
Dept. of Earth and Environmental Studies, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ 07043, USA,
973 655-7273  taylorjo@mail.montclair.edu, www.csam.montclair.edu/denvm/

(2)Graduate Student and Graduate Assistant, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ 07043, USA, 
973 655-3456 bozzolascoa1@mail.montclair.edu,

Climate change is recognized as one of the most important factors impacting ecosystems today.  The ecological impacts of climate change vary spatially and temporally, in extent and nature.  As such, ecosystem changes are dependent on the surrounding environment including geographical, geological, hydrological, and human influences.  Regional studies analyzing the impacts of climate change are critical in order to understand how it will impact ecosystems and their species assemblages.  In this time of biological extinctions, regional ecological studies are particularly important in assisting scientists in developing management and/or mitigation strategies that can prevent future biodiversity losses.

We have conducted an extensive review of the relevant literature, and have found that this region will indeed experience myriad ecosystem alterations that could have cascading ecological effects.  Of particular concern in the Mid-Atlantic region, is the effect of sea level rise on coastal ecological communities, impacts on wildlife preservation areas, as well as impacts or alterations to forest communities.  Of course, the highly urbanized Mid-Atlantic region also faces several public safety issues, including increased flooding and the possibility of increased extreme weather events, such as hurricanes.  Integrated ecological studies have yet to be performed for this region.  We believe that ecologically focused climate change studies are necessary in order to ensure the continued protection of important wildlife species.  In order to better understand the effects of climate change in the Mid-Atlantic region, we plan on generating high resolution climate impact scenarios by down scaling the output of global climate modeling studies using a regional climate model.