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Aim  Identifying and protecting refugia is a priority for conservation under projected 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.

Location  Global.

Methods  We present a simple conceptual framework for refugia and examine the factors that describe them. We then demonstrate how different disciplines are contributing to our understanding of refugia, and the tools that they provide for identifying and quantifying refugia.

Results  Current understanding of refugia is largely …