In advancing the social and political conversation about science, engagement with online platforms becomes essential. A reoccurring online presence is a crucial step in communicating science, as the internet and social media are increasingly influential in the spread of news. The Department of Interior’s Northwest and Northeast Climate Science Centers recently embarked on a translational ecology endeavor, bringing together natural resource managers and scientists from a variety of federal, state, and academic institutions across disciplines to focus on identifying and managing climate change refugia—areas relatively buffered from contemporary climate change over time that enable persistence of valued physical, ecological, and socio-cultural resources—known as the Refugia Research Coalition (RRC). To further this network, we designed a website to collaborate and raise awareness for climate change refugia science (www.climaterefugia.org). The goals of the RRC website are to advance collaboration, foster discussion, and perform outreach. Each of the goals aid in achieving the overarching goal of the RRC to summarize and synthesize the available refugia-related research and products, identify future research priorities/products, and to help resource managers incorporate refugia concepts into their management plans.
Results/Conclusions
The presence of the RRC website has already furthered these goals. Goals such as creating legitimacy, a structure for inviting and advancing partner’s efforts, catalyzing synthesis of existing data and structures on the webpages, and helping to advertise the efforts and products of the RRC and its members. In creating legitimacy, we have obtained an organizational domain (.org), reserved mainly for non-profit organizations, that sets an expectation for the content on the website. In data synthesis, we have collected and organized data in an inviting and interactive way in efforts to make the content more attainable and easier to grasp by the general public. Many scientists, managers and partners have already reached out and come together to contribute data to the RRC synthesis efforts. With 2,100 views from people across the country since it was launched mid-September, it’s growing every day. The RRC website will continue to grow and hopefully continue to enhance the knowledge and understanding of climate change refugia.