Impacts of climate change on biodiversity - consolidated knowledge and research gaps.
2008
Vohland, K.
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<sub>2</sub> 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<sub>2</sub>. 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.
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