Biodiversity and climate extremes: known interactions and research gaps
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Climate extremes are on the rise. Impacts of extreme climate and weather events on ecosystem services and ultimately human well-being can be partially attenuated by the organismic, structural, and functional diversity of the affected land surface. However, the ongoing transformation of terrestrial ecosystems through intensified exploitation and management may put this buffering capacity at risk. Here, we summarize the evidence that reductions in biodiversity can destabilize the functioning of ecosystems facing climate extremes. We then explore if impaired ecosystem functioning could, in turn, exacerbate climate extremes. We argue that only a comprehensive approach, incorporating both ecological and hydrometeorological perspectives, enables us to understand and predict the entire feedback system between altered biodiversity and climate extremes. This ambition, however, requires a reformulation of current research priorities to emphasize the bidirectional effects that link ecology and atmospheric processes.
Date Issued
2024-06
Date Acceptance
2024-05-22
Citation
Earth's Future, 2024, 12 (6)
ISSN
2328-4277
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Journal / Book Title
Earth's Future
Volume
12
Issue
6
Copyright Statement
© 2024. The Author(s).
This is an open access article under the
terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits use,
distribution and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
This is an open access article under the
terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits use,
distribution and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2023ef003963
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
e2023EF003963
Date Publish Online
2024-06-04