Indicators of Climate Change Impacts on Biodiversity (original) (raw)
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Climate change impact on biodiversity in Switzerland: A review
A noticeable increase in mean temperature has already been observed in Switzerland and summer temperatures up to 4.8 K warmer are expected by 2090. This article reviews the observed impacts of climate change on biodiversity and consider some perspectives for the future at the national level.
Impacts of climate change on Swiss biodiversity: An indicator taxa approach
Biological Conservation, 2011
We present a new indicator taxa approach to the prediction of climate change effects on biodiversity at the national level in Switzerland. As indicators, we select a set of the most widely distributed species that account for 95% of geographical variation in sampled species richness of birds, butterflies, and vascular plants. Species data come from a national program designed to monitor spatial and temporal trends in species richness. We examine some opportunities and limitations in using these data. We develop ecological niche models for the species as functions of both climate and land cover variables. We project these models to the future using climate predictions that correspond to two IPCC 3rd assessment scenarios for the development of 'greenhouse' gas emissions. We find that models that are calibrated with Swiss national monitoring data perform well in 10-fold cross-validation, but can fail to capture the hot-dry end of environmental gradients that constrain some species distributions. Models for indicator species in all three higher taxa predict that climate change will result in turnover in species composition even where there is little net change in predicted species richness. Indicator species from high elevations lose most areas of suitable climate even under the relatively mild B2 scenario. We project some areas to increase in the number of species for which climate conditions are suitable early in the current century, but these areas become less suitable for a majority of species by the end of the century. Selection of indicator species based on rank prevalence results in a set of models that predict observed species richness better than a similar set of species selected based on high rank of model AUC values. An indicator species approach based on selected species that are relatively common may facilitate the use of national monitoring data for predicting climate change effects on the distribution of biodiversity.
Impacts of climate change on biodiversity - consolidated knowledge and research gaps
Cab Reviews: Perspectives in Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Nutrition and Natural Resources, 2010
Climate change is one of the main drivers impacting biodiversity. The spatial and temporal distribution of temperature and precipitation as well as the increasing CO 2 concentration of the atmosphere are the main drivers substantially modifying the competitive success of species. Most information exists at the species level ), and here studies to correlate future species distribution with climate change indicators prevail. Most information that concentrates on the species level is based on studies that correlate future species distribution with climate change indicators. However, the reliability of these findings is limited because only slowly adaptive processes are included into modelling frameworks (if any at all). Direct impacts of climate change are manifested by physiological processes in all organisms, but most information is available for plants only. Some plant species may benefit from increasing atmospheric CO 2 . Higher temperatures, especially in spring, might induce earlier budburst, which causes longer growing periods. Higher temperature and droughts, on the other hand, limit assimilation and growth. Changes in biodiversity at the ecosystem level are more difficult to capture, not the least because different scientific communities use different definitions. From a societal point of view, ecosystems provide vital services whose provision might change under climate change. While in some regions ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration might increase, in others they might decrease as a result of water limitations and heat stress. More integrated nature conservation strategies that combine the protection of specific species of common interest with minimizing land-use tradeoffs will increase. Research is needed to develop suitable strategies that ensure adaptive capacity at all biodiversity levels and satisfy human requirements.
Climate change and biodiversity in South-East Europe - Impacts and action
2008
Based on past trends, current measurements and models that illustrate future scenarios, it is now widely accepted amongst the scientific community that global temperature is increasing and that the Earth’s climate has the potential to change rapidly. Much of this is as a direct result of increasing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and other human activities, and brings specific challenges for society as a whole. Policymakers and politicians are beginning to respond to this challenge and there is a growing awareness amongst the general public that their livelihoods and the environment around them may be affected. This report describes the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and ecosystem services, with a focus on South-East Europe (SEE); specifically, it contains country assessments of the current knowledge and position in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Turkey. It is a key output of the project: ‘Climate change impacts on biodiversity in South-East Europe’. As far as possible it is based on state-of-the-art information on the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and ecosystem services and assessments by the experts of the above-mentioned countries.
Effects of climate change on biodiversity: a review and identification of key research issues
1999
Current knowledge of effects of climate change on biodiversity is briefly reviewed, and results are presented of a survey of biological research groups in the Netherlands, aimed at identifying key research issues in this field. In many areas of the world, biodiversity is being reduced by humankind through changes in land cover and use, pollution, invasions of exotic species and possibly climate change. Assessing the impact of climate change on biodiversity is difficult, because changes occur slowly and effects of climate change interact with other stress factors already imposed on the environment. Research issues identified by Dutch scientists can be grouped into: (i) spatial and temporal distributions of taxa; (ii) migration and dispersal potentials of taxa; (iii) genetic diversity and viability of (meta) populations of species; (iv) physiological tolerance of species; (v) disturbance of functional interactions between species; and (vi) ecosystem processes. Additional research should be done on direct effects of greenhouse gases, and on interactions between effects of climate change and habitat fragmentation. There are still many gaps in our knowledge of effects of climate change on biodiversity. An interdisciplinary research programme could possibly focus only on one or few of the identified research issues, and should generate input data for predictive models based on climate change scenarios.
Biodiversity and Climate Change: Linkages at International, National and Local Levels
Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal/Potchefstroomse Elektroniese Regsblad, 2017
At the tenth Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Conference of the Parties (COP) held in Nagoya 2010, the parties agreed that they would by 2020 enhance 'ecosystem resilience and the contribution of biodiversity to carbon stocks …, through conservation and restoration, including restoration of at least 15 per cent of degraded ecosystems, thereby contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation and to combating desertification' (Aichi Target 15, Decision X/2 (Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020)).