Recent ecological responses to climate change support predictions of high extinction risk.

ABSTRACT: Predicted effects of climate change include high extinction risk for many species, but confidence in these predictions is undermined by a perceived lack of empirical support. Many studies have now documented ecological responses to recent climate change, providing the opportunity to test whether the magnitude and nature of recent responses match predictions. Here, we perform a global and multitaxon metaanalysis to show that empirical evidence for the realized effects of climate change supports predictions of future extinction risk. We use International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria as a common scale to estimate extinction risks from a wide range of climate impacts, ecological responses, and methods of analysis, and we compare predictions with observations. Mean

SUBMITTER: Maclean IM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3145734 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature