Title |
Impacts of climate change on the future of biodiversity
|
---|---|
Published in |
Ecology Letters, January 2012
|
DOI | 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01736.x |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Céline Bellard, Cleo Bertelsmeier, Paul Leadley, Wilfried Thuiller, Franck Courchamp |
Abstract |
Many studies in recent years have investigated the effects of climate change on the future of biodiversity. In this review, we first examine the different possible effects of climate change that can operate at individual, population, species, community, ecosystem and biome scales, notably showing that species can respond to climate change challenges by shifting their climatic niche along three non-exclusive axes: time (e.g. phenology), space (e.g. range) and self (e.g. physiology). Then, we present the principal specificities and caveats of the most common approaches used to estimate future biodiversity at global and sub-continental scales and we synthesise their results. Finally, we highlight several challenges for future research both in theoretical and applied realms. Overall, our review shows that current estimates are very variable, depending on the method, taxonomic group, biodiversity loss metrics, spatial scales and time periods considered. Yet, the majority of models indicate alarming consequences for biodiversity, with the worst-case scenarios leading to extinction rates that would qualify as the sixth mass extinction in the history of the earth. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 9 | 10% |
United Kingdom | 8 | 9% |
France | 5 | 5% |
Canada | 5 | 5% |
Australia | 4 | 4% |
Mexico | 3 | 3% |
Spain | 2 | 2% |
Chile | 2 | 2% |
Sweden | 2 | 2% |
Other | 16 | 17% |
Unknown | 38 | 40% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 78 | 83% |
Scientists | 14 | 15% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 2 | 2% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 53 | <1% |
Brazil | 32 | <1% |
United Kingdom | 27 | <1% |
France | 26 | <1% |
Germany | 22 | <1% |
Canada | 15 | <1% |
Australia | 11 | <1% |
South Africa | 10 | <1% |
Switzerland | 9 | <1% |
Other | 88 | 1% |
Unknown | 6017 | 95% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 1112 | 18% |
Student > Master | 972 | 15% |
Researcher | 959 | 15% |
Student > Bachelor | 879 | 14% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 289 | 5% |
Other | 856 | 14% |
Unknown | 1243 | 20% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 2395 | 38% |
Environmental Science | 1481 | 23% |
Earth and Planetary Sciences | 210 | 3% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 185 | 3% |
Social Sciences | 97 | 2% |
Other | 484 | 8% |
Unknown | 1458 | 23% |