Biodiversity redistribution under climate change: impacts on ecosystems and human well-being

Pecl, Gretta T., Araújo, Miguel B., Bell, Johann D., Blanchard, Julia, Bonebrake, Timothy C., Chen, I-ching, Clark, Timothy D., Colwell, Robert K., Danielsen, Finn, Evengård, Birgitta, Falconi, Lorena, Ferrier, Simon, Frusher, Stewart, Garcia, Raquel A., Griffis, Roger B., Hobday, Alistair J., Janion-scheepers, Charlene, Jarzyna, Marta A., Jennings, Sarah, Lenoir, Jonathan, Linnetved, Hlif I., Martin, Victoria Y., Mccormack, Phillipa C., Mcdonald, Jan, Mitchell, Nicola J., Mustonen, Tero, Pandolfi, John M., Pettorelli, Nathalie, Popova, Ekaterina, Robinson, Sharon A., Scheffers, Brett R., Shaw, Justine D., Sorte, Cascade J. B., Strugnell, Jan M., Sunday, Jennifer M., Tuanmu, Mao-ning, Vergés, Adriana, Villanueva, Cecilia, Wernberg, Thomas, Wapstra, Erik and Williams, Stephen E. (2017) Biodiversity redistribution under climate change: impacts on ecosystems and human well-being. Science, 355 (6332), [eaai9214]. (doi:10.1126/science.aai9214).

Abstract

Distributions of Earth’s species are changing at accelerating rates, increasingly driven by human-mediated climate change. Such changes are already altering the composition of ecological communities, but beyond conservation of natural systems, how and why does this matter? We review evidence that climate-driven species redistribution at regional to global scales affects ecosystem functioning, human well-being, and the dynamics of climate change itself. Production of natural resources required for food security, patterns of disease transmission, and processes of carbon sequestration are all altered by changes in species distribution. Consideration of these effects of biodiversity redistribution is critical yet lacking in most mitigation and adaptation strategies, including the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

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