All human–environment systems adapt to climate and its natural variation. Adaptation to human-induced change in climate has largely been envisioned as increments of these adaptations intended to avoid disruptions of systems at their current locations. In some places, for some systems, however, vulnerabilities and risks may be so sizeable that they require transformational rather than incremental adaptations. Three classes of transformational adaptations are those that are adopted at a much larger scale, that are truly new to a particular region or resource system, and that transform places and shift locations. We illustrate these with examples drawn from Africa, Europe, and North America. Two conditions set the stage for transformational adaptation to climate change: large vulnerability in certain regions, populations, or resource systems; and severe climate change that overwhelms even robust human use systems. However, anticipatory transformational adaptation may be difficult to implement because of uncertainties about climate change risks and adaptation benefits, the high costs of transformational actions, and institutional and behavioral actions that tend to maintain existing resource systems and policies. Implementing transformational adaptation requires effort to initiate it and then to sustain the effort over time. In initiating transformational adaptation focusing events and multiple stresses are important, combined with local leadership. In sustaining transformational adaptation, it seems likely that supportive social contexts and the availability of acceptable options and resources for actions are key enabling factors. Early steps would include incorporating transformation adaptation into risk management and initiating research to expand the menu of innovative transformational adaptations.

Recent fires have fueled concerns that regional and global warming trends are leading to more extreme burning. We found compelling evidence that average fire events in regions of the United States are up to four times the size, triple the frequency, and more widespread in the 2000s than in the previous two decades. Moreover, the most extreme fires are also larger, more common, and more likely to co-occur with other extreme fires. This documented shift in burning patterns across most of the country aligns with the palpable change in fire dynamics noted by the media, public, and fire-fighting officials.

Most of the public lands protected for conservation in the western United States are surrounded by working landscapes of various types, typically in agro-pastoral ownership and use. How these working landscapes evolve over time and how their inhabitants respond to various conservation goals will in large measure determine the success or failure of efforts to maintain regional biodiversity. This article contributes to a better understanding of ecological threat on the important private lands of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem by suggesting the ways in which changes in ranch ownership become conservation opportunities or challenges. Relying on a combination of real estate sales data, land ownership data, and interviews with key informants, we assess trends and patterns of ownership change around Yellowstone National Park. The main ranchland dynamic in this region involves the transition from traditional ranchers, typically full-time livestock producers, to a more diverse cohort of landowners, including absentee owners focused on amenity or conservation values in addition to, or instead of, livestock production. We present a conceptual model for distinguishing between different ranch landscapes and discuss some of the conservation implications of these geographical patterns.