Climate Change & Anthropocene Extinction 48: large biodiversity benefits of 1.5 degrees limit (IPCC)

Then of course we also have our climate-ecology series that wanted an update based on IPCC SR15. Judging by IPCC’s special report on 1.5 degrees the ecological benefits of strengthening the global climate target from 2 to 1.5 degrees are … Continue reading

Climate Change & Anthropocene Extinction 47: Can species adapt by changing their fitness curves?

As we discussed in our previous article, ecologists use the term ‘fitness curve’ – or the synonymous ‘performance curve’ – to describe a climatological bandwidth within which a species can survive, including an optimum value and a critical minimum and … Continue reading

Climate Change & Anthropocene Extinction 46: Tropical insects vulnerable due to narrow fitness curve

You would think tropical species like warm weather – and what’s the difference between warm and 2 or 3 degrees warmer. Well, they can be picky. A short appendix to our previous article – a bit of supporting theory as … Continue reading

Climate Change & Anthropocene Extinction 44: Building corridors can increase species survival 5-18%

In face of the Holocene-Anthropocene Mass Extinction conservationists challenge themselves to think of novel biodiversity protection measures. Thinking outside of the box of fenced reserves is literally required, as over 85 percent of Earth’s land does not have nature-protected status, … Continue reading

Climate Change & Anthropocene Extinction 43: Expert explains biodiversity graph Royal Society report

It’s the end of the year so a good time to evaluate where we’re standing. Our climate-biodiversity series has progressed to episode 43. If you’ve missed it, we highly recommend you start at part 1, preferably under a Christmas tree … Continue reading

Climate Change & Anthropocene Extinction 40: Warming changes spread of European ash tree dieback

Under very rare circumstances a spatial mismatch caused by climate change can be a good thing. But before you start betting on compensating one ecological disturbance with another that’s possibly even more dangerous, we think perhaps we should discuss another … Continue reading

Climate Change & Anthropocene Extinction 39: Warming also causes spatial mismatch interacting species

Climate change can cause a ‘temporal mismatch’ between interacting species, we learned in our previous article. Here’s a short appendix to that piece, illustrating how simultaneously also a spatial mismatch can develop – further promoting population declines and biodiversity loss, … Continue reading

Climate Change & Anthropocene Extinction 38: European migratory birds offer early climate warning

Migratory birds may seem to be well equipped to cope with the consequences of climate change, because their trait of seasonal migration is of course already an evolutionary adaptation to temperature fluctuations that characterise the seasons of Earth’s temperate climate … Continue reading

Climate Change & Anthropocene Extinction 35: 9 megatrend graphs show little base for optimism

Over 15,000 scientists have endorsed a newly published paper titled ‘World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice’ that’s set to quickly become a landmark publication. Essentially it’s an overview update (and very digestible, just a thousand words) on the … Continue reading

Climate Change & Anthropocene Extinction 34: ‘Sahel greening’ unlikely to benefit African biodiversity

The below graph comes from a new global temperature trend study that compares different established datasets for land and ocean temperature. The results emphasize an often-overlooked phenomenon: geographically ‘skewed warming’ – leading to planet-wide precipitation shifts. Possible effects not only … Continue reading