Microclimate, an important part of ecology and biogeography

Brief introduction: What are microclimates and why are they important?: Microclimate science has developed into a global discipline. Microclimate science is increasingly used to understand and mitigate climate and biodiversity shifts. Here, we provide an overview of the current status of microclimate ecology and biogeography in terrestrial ecosystems, and where this field is heading next. Microclimate investigations in ecology and biogeography: We highlight the latest research on interactions between microclimates and organisms, including how microclimates influence individuals, and through them populations, communities and entire ecosystems and their processes. We also briefly discuss recent research on how organisms shape microclimates from the tropics to the poles. Microclimate applications in ecosystem management: Microclimates are also important in ecosystem management under climate change. We showcase new research in microclimate management with examples from biodiversity conservation, forestry and urban ecology. We discuss the importance of microrefugia in conservation and how to promote microclimate heterogeneity. Methods for microclimate science: We showcase the recent advances in data acquisition, such as novel field sensors and remote sensing methods. We discuss microclimate modelling, mapping and data processing, including accessibility of modelling tools, advantages of mechanistic and statistical modelling and solutions for computational challenges that have pushed the state-of-the-art of the field. What's next?: We identify major knowledge gaps that need to be filled for further advancing microclimate investigations, applications and methods. These gaps include spatiotemporal scaling of microclimate data, mismatches between macroclimate and microclimate in predicting responses of organisms to climate change, and the need for more evidence on the outcomes of microclimate management.

The Microclimate Ecology & Biogeography conference in Antwerp, Belgium in 2022 was supported by the Research Foundation Flanders (project W001919N). JK acknowledges funding from the Academy of Finland (grant no. 349606). JJL and IN acknowledge funding from the Research Foundation Flanders (project 12P1819N) and from BiodivERsA (ASICS project (ANR-20-EBI5-0004, BiodivERsA, BiodivClim call 2019–2020)). JC acknowledges the funding from PID2020-117636GB-C21 and TED2021-132007B-I00. NIC was funded by a Swiss National Science Foundation Postdoc Mobility Fellowship (Grant ID: 194331). PK acknowledges funding from European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 864287 —THRESHOLD—ERC-2019-COG). JL acknowledges funding from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR), under the framework of the young investigators' funding scheme (JCJC Grant N°ANR-19-CE32-0005-01: IMPRINT project). DL is financially supported by the FWF Austrian Science Foundation (Lise Meitner Programme M2714-B29). JP and MV were supported by BiodivClim Call 2019 (TACR SS70010001; Technology Agency of the Czech Republic), the project DivLand (TACR SS02030018) and long-term research development project RVO 67985939 (Czech Academy of Sciences). SS is supported by the project no. 2022/45/B/ST10/03423 funded by the National Science Centre in Poland. VV acknowledges funding from the Research Council of Norway (grant no. 315249, 274712, 244525). SN and JvO acknowledge funding from the Independent Research Fund of Denmark (grant no. 7027-00133B to SN). JA acknowledges the Academy of Finland Flagship funding (grant no. 337552). RB acknowledges funding from the Saxon State Ministry for Science, Culture and Tourism (SMWK)—[3-7304/35/6-2021/48880]. JeBo acknowledges the funding from the AgroParisTech/ Région Grand-Est joint grant 19_GE8_01020p05035. JoBr was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (project 20-28119S) and the long-term research development project RVO 67985939 (Czech Academy of Sciences). ACK acknowledges funding from FOVI 210043 and ANILLO ACONCAGUA ANID ACT 210021. KDP acknowledges funding from the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) (K.D.P. ASP035-19). LD acknowledges funding from the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) (1221523 N). DES acknowledges funding from NASA FINESST (80NSSC22K1535). RE acknowledges funding: UPV/EHU-GV IT-1648–22 and PID2020–113244GA-C22 (funded by MCIN/ AEI /10.13039/501100011033). EG is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) NE/S007407/1. MBG acknowledges the support of the REFUGIA project (PID2021-129056OB-I00). CG received funding from FORMAS [project nr. 2021- 01993]. EG's PhD was funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR), under the framework of the young investigators' funding scheme (JCJC Grant N°ANR-19-CE32-0005-01: IMPRINT project). SH received funding from a FLOF fellowship of the KU Leuven (project nr. 3E190655). HH research is funded by national funds by FCT, under the transitional rule of Decree Law 57/2016—DL57/2016/CP 1334 CT0005. RH acknowledges funding from the Spanish Association of Terrestrial Ecology (AEET) through the programme ‘Grants for research projects led by young researchers 2019’. The research was supported by a grant from Formas to KH [2021-00816]. BJA is funded by grant MCI-20-PID2019-108636GA-I00 of the Spanish Research Agency. TJ was supported by a NERC Independent Research Fellowship (grant code: NE/S01537X/1). MK was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (project 20-28119S) and the Czech Academy of Sciences (project RVO 67985939). BK was supported by the ÚNKP-22-4 New National Excellence Program of the Ministry for Culture and Innovation from the source of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund (ÚNKP-22-4-II-ELTE-318). FM was supported by Slovak Research and Development Agency project APVV-19-0319. MM was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (project 20-28119S) and the Czech Academy of Sciences (project RVO 67985939). CM acknowledges the IntegSaatprojekt and its funders (FKZ: 2220WK65X4), as well as the Honours Programme for Future Researchers at the Friedrich-Schiller-University. EM acknowledges the funding from the Région Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (AAP 2020 n°02697 MICROMED project). JJL and IN acknowledge funding from the Research Foundation Flanders (project 12P1819N) and from BiodivERsA (ASICS project (ANR-20-EBI5-0004, BiodivERsA, BiodivClim call 2019–2020)). DR is supported by the ASICS project (ANR-20-EBI5-0004, BiodivERsA, BiodivClim call 2019–2020), the French Polar Institute (Project 136-SUBANTECO), Zone Atelier CNRS Antarctique et Terres Australes (ZATA ‘Antarctic’) and CNRS (IRP PRICES). TR acknowledges funding from the Doctoral Programme in Geosciences. JMSD was supported by the ANR-JCJC (Agence Nationale de la Recherche, jeunes chercheuses et jeunes chercheurs) SEEDFOR (ANR-21-CE32-0003). JMSD acknowledges the support from NASA for UConn's Ecological Modelling Institute (#80NSSC 22 K0883). JCS considers this work a contribution to the Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO), funded by the Danish National Research Foundation (grant DNRF173) and his VILLUM Investigator project ‘Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World’, funded by VILLUM FONDEN (grant 16549). SVDV is a PhD fellow supported by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO; 1S90923N). LvdB acknowledges Conaf, and Comunidad agricola Quebrada de Talca, Chile. MV was supported by a research grant from the BiodivClim Call 2019 (grant nr. TACR SS70010001) and long-term research development project RVO 67985939 from the Czech Academy of Sciences. can have the same acknowledgement as Jan Pergl. MV-I was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through a doctoral grant (FPU17/05869). JW was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (project 20-28119S) and the Czech Academy of Sciences (project RVO 67985939). F.Z. was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (project number 193645). E.Z. was funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund through the Open University and the EarthWatch Community Science Camp (NERC-UKRI Grant no. NE/S017437/1).

Peer reviewed