Refugia from climate change, and their influence on the diversity and conservation of insects

Abstract Climate change refugia are landscapes, topographic features or ecosystems that buffer organisms against exposure to climate change by providing conditions that are stable or spatially heterogeneous (macrorefugia) or distinct from their surroundings (microrefugia). Refugia allow taxa to persist through unfavorable climatic conditions and act as foci for subsequent recovery or range expansion, and could therefore underpin measures for adapting conservation to climate change. This chapter outlines physical and microclimatic features of refugia, and the evidence for their influence on insect responses to historical and recent climate change. It considers how vulnerability to climate change depends on how climate varies over space and time in refugia, but also on biotic traits (endemism, narrow climatic tolerance or habitat specialism) that may increase climate change sensitivity for species occupying these locations. The chapter concludes by reviewing proposals and remaining challenges for the practical application of climate change refugia to insect conservation.