Multi‐scale considerations for identifying and managing climate‐change refugia in grassland ecosystems

Abstract Grasslands are globally imperiled. Centuries of intensive agriculture, anthropogenic development, woody encroachment, and the disruption of historical disturbance regimes have degraded native grasslands with wide‐ranging impacts on grassland species. Exacerbating these threats, modern climate change is rapidly affecting these highly exposed systems. Grasslands are perhaps the most intensively managed ecosystem in North America; private landowners, governmental, and nonprofit agencies expend considerable resources creating and maintaining grasslands using prescribed burning, managed grazing, and mechanical restoration. Climate‐change refugia are critical for climate‐vulnerable species and can help buffer populations from acute and chronic climate‐related stressors. Given the widespread geography of grasslands and the intensive management they require, there is untapped potential to integrate multi‐scaled concepts of climate‐change refugia with current grassland conservation strategies. Using declining grassland birds as a case study, we explore how the concepts of climate‐change refugia, spanning from macro‐scale conservation planning to microclimate management, may aid in the conservation and management of climate‐vulnerable grassland species.