Restoring Predators as a Hedge against Climate Change

Climate change and the loss of ecologically relevant large terrestrial carnivore populations are two important challenges currently facing conservation practitioners (Ray et al. 2005, Sutherland et al. 2009). Little attention is given, however, to how these two problems might be related, and how mitigation eff orts for each might be united. Here we explain how predators cannot only infl uence the cause of climate change (atmospheric carbon) but also infl uence—directly and indirectly—climate impacts on their prey and on entire ecological communities. We draw on an emerging body of work to conceive ways in which the restoration of large carnivores might provide opportunities for both carnivore conservation and mitigation of climate change.