Recent responses to climate change reveal the drivers of species extinction and survival.

ABSTRACT: Climate change may be a major threat to biodiversity in the next 100 years. Although there has been important work on mechanisms of decline in some species, it generally remains unclear which changes in climate actually cause extinctions, and how many species will likely be lost. Here, we identify the specific changes in climate that are associated with the widespread local extinctions that have already occurred. We then use this information to predict the extent of future biodiversity loss and to identify which processes may forestall extinction. We used data from surveys of 538 plant and animal species over time, 44% of which have already had local extinctions at one or more sites. We found that locations with local extinctions had larger and faster changes in hottest yearly temperatures

SUBMITTER: Roman-Palacios C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7049143 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature