Hot topics in biodiversity and climate change research [version 1; referees: 2 approved]

• Main Authors: Barry W. Brook, Damien A. Fordham
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: F1000 Research Ltd 2015-09-01
• Series: F1000Research
• Subjects: Behavioral Ecology; Community Ecology & Biodiversity; Conservation & Restoration Ecology; Ecosystem Ecology; Evolutionary Ecology; Global Change Ecology; Marine & Freshwater Ecology; Physiological Ecology; Population Ecology; Spatial & Landscape Ecology; Theoretical Ecology
• Online Access: http://f1000research.com/articles/4-928/v1

With scientific and societal interest in biodiversity impacts of climate change growing enormously over the last decade, we analysed directions and biases in the recent most highly cited data papers in this field of research (from 2012 to 2014). The majority of this work relied on leveraging large databases of already collected historical information (but not paleo- or genetic data), and coupled these to new methodologies for making forward projections of shifts in species’ geographical ranges, with a focus on temperate and montane plants. A consistent finding was that the pace of climate-driven habitat change, along with increased frequency of extreme events, is outpacing the capacity of species or ecological communities to respond and adapt.