Identifying and protecting refugia is a priority for conservation under pro-
jected anthropogenic climate change, because of their demonstrated ability to
facilitate the survival of biota under adverse conditions. Refugia are habitats that
components of biodiversity retreat to, persist in and can potentially expand from
under changing environmental conditions. However, the study and discussion of
refugia has often been ad hoc and descriptive in nature. We therefore: (1) provide a
habitat-based concept of refugia, and (2) evaluate methods for the identification of
refugia.
