Biodiversity

Insect biodiversity is changing because of agriculture and climate change

Where land is used for high-intensity agriculture, the joint impact of agriculture and climate warming has reduced insect abundance and species richness by 49% and 27%, global observations show.

Primary production plants and trees increases despite negative impacts more extreme droughts

For future global primary production, the positive impacts of higher CO2 concentrations and higher temperature at high latitudes dominate over the negative impacts of more extreme droughts.

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Marine heat waves in the Mediterranean Sea: still an exception, but the “new normal” in a few decades

Unprecedented mass mortality events, reported in previous summers and resulting from prolonged periods of high sea surface temperatures, seem to become the new standard already by 2050.

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Climate change will affect biodiversity, regardless of the Paris Agreement

Biodiversity of plants and animals on earth will change. At 2 °C global warming, terrestrial ecosystems could lose on average 14% of their current local species, and 22% at 4 °C.

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Projections indicate: Ocean biomass declines 5 to 17 per cent by 2100 due to global warming

Global ocean animal biomass consistently declines with climate change from the year 1970 to 2100, on average with 5% for every 1 °C of global warming. Declines are largest at the tropics.

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Marine heat waves threaten global biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services

The global ocean has warmed substantially over the past century. But that’s not all. Discrete periods of extreme regional warming, called ‘marine heat waves’, have increased in frequency.

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If global warming exceeds 1.5°C, the impacts on global terrestrial biodiversity will be substantial

We can learn from the past to see what lies ahead. Vegetation changes since the last ice age show that vegetation composition and structure is at substantial risk of major changes in the near future.

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Video footage of cycling race shows the impacts of climate change

Forty years of television video footage of the Tour of Flanders shows strong shifts in the leaf-out and flowering of trees alongside the roads. As a result of 1.5°C warming since 1980.

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The smaller the Mediterranean islands, the more vulnerable their biodiversity for climate change

Plant species on Mediterranean islands can migrate into more favourable ecological niches when climate changes. Many islands may be too small, however, and certain species may not survive.

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Plants start to flower much earlier in spring thanks to global warming

Plants respond to global warming by advancing their onset of flowering in spring. This advancement is faster in the north of Europe and in the mountains than in the south.

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Species on the move: Impacts on ecosystems and human well-being

Climate change leads to a redistribution of species on land and in the oceans. This affects our well-being because our capacity to respond to species shifting across borders is limited.

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Future Mediterranean land ecosystem changes unmatched in last 10,000 years

Anthropogenic climate change will likely alter ecosystems in the Mediterranean this century in a way that is without precedent during the past 10,000 years.

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Climate change impacts on biodiversity, an overview

In November 2016 Science published an overview of climate change impacts on biodiversity: "The broad footprint of climate change from genes to biomes to people". This article presents a summary.

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Migratory birds under threat

Organisms do not respond to climate change at the same pace. This has led to a mismatch between European migratory bird species and their insect food peak, and a decline in their population sizes.

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Wetlands are shrinking rapidly in Greece

Wetlands are vulnerable to changes in precipitation, evaporation, and catchment run-off. Lakes in Greece, for instance, may loose more than a third of their surface area this century.

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Olympic and environmental modelling, yes we can

Environmental models can be used to estimate the development of algae blooms. But these models can do so much more. Like helping sailing teams at the Olympics to win a medal.

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Spring advancement in Europe due to global warming may amplify the effect of climate change

The earlier green-up of vegetation in Europe amplifies spring warming, especially the frequency and intensity of spring heat waves, according to a recent study.

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Conservation of grassland biodiversity in Finland under a changing climate

The potential impacts of climate change on grassland biodiversity in Finland and potential adaptation options have been considered by focusing on grassland butterflies

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Climate change impacts on bumblebees converge across continents

Bumblebee species seem to fail to move to the north of Europe and North America in response to global warming whereas they lose habitats at the southern range

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Global mountain topography and the fate of montane species under climate change

Climate change is considered a large threat to especially montane species. These species often inhabit narrow elevational ranges

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Accelerating extinction risk from climate change

Climate change threatens one in six species (16%) globally if we follow our current, business-as-usual trajectory

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Observed climate-induced changes in plant phenology in the Netherlands

Until the beginning of the 1990s, there have been no significant changes in the timing of plant life cycle events in the Netherlands. During 2001-2010 the timing

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Alpine and subalpine vegetation habitat reduction in the Pyrenees

An assessment was made of the impacts of climate change on the potential distribution of six alpine grasslands, two subalpine (and alpine) scrublands and four subalpine forests

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Climate change impact on Luxemburg vegetation

From 1961 to 2100 an elongation of the vegetation period of 6.2 days per decade was identified for Luxemburg

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Distribution changes in European avifauna

For all 431 bird species breeding regularly in Europe, future range sizes have been predicted to be 80% of current range sizes, with an average overlap of 39%.

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