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Climate change reshuffles northern species within their niches

Antão, Laura H. ; Weigel, Benjamin ; Strona, Giovanni ; Hällfors, Maria ; Kaarlejärvi, Elina ; Dallas, Tad ; Opedal, Øystein H. LU ; Heliölä, Janne ; Henttonen, Heikki and Huitu, Otso , et al. (2022) In Nature Climate Change 12(6). p.587-592
Abstract

Climate change is a pervasive threat to biodiversity. While range shifts are a known consequence of climate warming contributing to regional community change, less is known about how species’ positions shift within their climatic niches. Furthermore, whether the relative importance of different climatic variables prompting such shifts varies with changing climate remains unclear. Here we analysed four decades of data for 1,478 species of birds, mammals, butterflies, moths, plants and phytoplankton along a 1,200 km high latitudinal gradient. The relative importance of climatic drivers varied non-uniformly with progressing climate change. While species turnover among decades was limited, the relative position of species within their... (More)

Climate change is a pervasive threat to biodiversity. While range shifts are a known consequence of climate warming contributing to regional community change, less is known about how species’ positions shift within their climatic niches. Furthermore, whether the relative importance of different climatic variables prompting such shifts varies with changing climate remains unclear. Here we analysed four decades of data for 1,478 species of birds, mammals, butterflies, moths, plants and phytoplankton along a 1,200 km high latitudinal gradient. The relative importance of climatic drivers varied non-uniformly with progressing climate change. While species turnover among decades was limited, the relative position of species within their climatic niche shifted substantially. A greater proportion of species responded to climatic change at higher latitudes, where changes were stronger. These diverging climate imprints restructure a full biome, making it difficult to generalize biodiversity responses and raising concerns about ecosystem integrity in the face of accelerating climate change.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nature Climate Change
volume
12
issue
6
pages
6 pages
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:85131302929
ISSN
1758-678X
DOI
10.1038/s41558-022-01381-x
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
edff1fd6-b790-4e98-ae22-2dc68671f161
date added to LUP
2022-10-10 13:19:43
date last changed
2022-10-10 13:19:43
@article{edff1fd6-b790-4e98-ae22-2dc68671f161,
  abstract     = {{<p>Climate change is a pervasive threat to biodiversity. While range shifts are a known consequence of climate warming contributing to regional community change, less is known about how species’ positions shift within their climatic niches. Furthermore, whether the relative importance of different climatic variables prompting such shifts varies with changing climate remains unclear. Here we analysed four decades of data for 1,478 species of birds, mammals, butterflies, moths, plants and phytoplankton along a 1,200 km high latitudinal gradient. The relative importance of climatic drivers varied non-uniformly with progressing climate change. While species turnover among decades was limited, the relative position of species within their climatic niche shifted substantially. A greater proportion of species responded to climatic change at higher latitudes, where changes were stronger. These diverging climate imprints restructure a full biome, making it difficult to generalize biodiversity responses and raising concerns about ecosystem integrity in the face of accelerating climate change.</p>}},
  author       = {{Antão, Laura H. and Weigel, Benjamin and Strona, Giovanni and Hällfors, Maria and Kaarlejärvi, Elina and Dallas, Tad and Opedal, Øystein H. and Heliölä, Janne and Henttonen, Heikki and Huitu, Otso and Korpimäki, Erkki and Kuussaari, Mikko and Lehikoinen, Aleksi and Leinonen, Reima and Lindén, Andreas and Merilä, Päivi and Pietiäinen, Hannu and Pöyry, Juha and Salemaa, Maija and Tonteri, Tiina and Vuorio, Kristiina and Ovaskainen, Otso and Saastamoinen, Marjo and Vanhatalo, Jarno and Roslin, Tomas and Laine, Anna Liisa}},
  issn         = {{1758-678X}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{6}},
  pages        = {{587--592}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature Climate Change}},
  title        = {{Climate change reshuffles northern species within their niches}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01381-x}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41558-022-01381-x}},
  volume       = {{12}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}