Potential of Wild Species in the Scenario of Climate Change

Phenological changes in Europe are still attributable to climate change induced warming

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-18551 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Annette Menzel ◽

Ye Yuan ◽

Michael Matiu ◽

Tim H Sparks ◽

Helfried Scheifinger ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Wild Species ◽

Plant Traits ◽

Temperature Response ◽

Early Spring ◽

Wild Plants ◽

Phenological Changes ◽

Species Groups ◽

Mean Trend ◽

Ipcc Ar4

During 1971-2000 phenological responses of wild species in spring and summer matched the warming pattern in Europe, whereas timing of farming activities as well as autumnal leaf colouring did not mirror climate change to the same extent (Menzel et al. GCB 2006). These findings were a backbone of the corresponding global attribution study of the IPCC AR4 (Rosenzweig et al. 2007, 2008). Two decades of warming later, however, new phenological findings suggest that especially a lack of chilling and / or increasing influence of photoperiod may have lowered the phenological temperature response and that adaptation in agricultural management is taking place. We therefore updated the GCB 2006 study by asking three questions: What drives the inherent variation of trends? Can we now detect a warming signal in &#8220;false&#8221; agricultural (i.e. those being directly or indirectly determined by farmers&#8217; management) and autumn phases? Is there still an attributable warming signal in phenology?The complete phenological dataset of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (1951-2018, ~97.000 times series, corresponding to 96.3% of PEP725 data) was analysed. We determined linear trends, studied their variation by plant traits / phenogroups, across season and time, and followed IPCC methodology for attributing phenological changes to warming patterns.For spring and summer phases of wild plants we found more (significantly) advancing trends (~90% and ~60% sign.) which were stronger in early spring, at higher elevations, but smaller for non-woody insect-pollinated species. Although mean trend strength decreased, changes in spring were strongly attributable to warming in spring and winter. We had similar but less strong findings for agricultural crops in these seasons. In contrast only ~75% of phenological phases set by farmers&#8217; decisions were advancing, however this was the only phenological group for which the mean advance increased, indicating adaptation. Equally trends in farming phases in spring and summer were attributable to warming in winter and summer, respectively. Leaf coloring and fall was now predominantly delayed (57%) which was attributable to winter and spring warming, too.Thus, this update of the GCB2006 study demonstrates that there is still a significant and attributable phenological change pattern in Europe, in which number of (significant) trends pointing into the direction of warming increased, but mean trend strength mostly decreased, probably due to a lack of chilling and smaller forcing trends. More attention should be paid to the inherent variability of trends with traits / species groups, season and time triggering divers (e.g. ecological) consequences of these phenological shifts. Still existing differences between the generative period of crops and wild species as well as between the farming season and the general growing season call for more research in this area.

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Climate Change and Wild Species

Encyclopedia of Biodiversity ◽

10.1016/b978-0-12-384719-5.00394-4 ◽

2013 ◽

pp. 79-99 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Terry L. Root ◽

Stephen H. Schneider ◽

Rachel Warren ◽

Jeff R. Price ◽

Patricia R. Mastrandrea

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Wild Species

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Climate Change and Wild Species

Encyclopedia of Biodiversity ◽

10.1016/b978-012226865-6/00490-6 ◽

2007 ◽

pp. 1-26

Author(s):

Stephen H. Schneider ◽

TerryL. Roost ◽

Patricia R. Mastrandrea

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Wild Species

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Averting robo-bees: why free-flying robotic bees are a bad idea

Emerging Topics in Life Sciences ◽

10.1042/etls20190063 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (6) ◽

pp. 723-729

Author(s):

Roslyn Gleadow ◽

Jim Hanan ◽

Alan Dorin

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Computer Simulation ◽

Food Security ◽

European Countries ◽

Plant Interactions ◽

Plant Insect Interactions ◽

Native Habitat ◽

Insect Pollinators ◽

Insect Interactions

Food security and the sustainability of native ecosystems depends on plant-insect interactions in countless ways. Recently reported rapid and immense declines in insect numbers due to climate change, the use of pesticides and herbicides, the introduction of agricultural monocultures, and the destruction of insect native habitat, are all potential contributors to this grave situation. Some researchers are working towards a future where natural insect pollinators might be replaced with free-flying robotic bees, an ecologically problematic proposal. We argue instead that creating environments that are friendly to bees and exploring the use of other species for pollination and bio-control, particularly in non-European countries, are more ecologically sound approaches. The computer simulation of insect-plant interactions is a far more measured application of technology that may assist in managing, or averting, ‘Insect Armageddon' from both practical and ethical viewpoints.

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Modelling ecosystem adaptation and dangerous rates of global warming

Emerging Topics in Life Sciences ◽

10.1042/etls20180113 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 221-231 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Rebecca Millington ◽

Peter M. Cox ◽

Jonathan R. Moore ◽

Gabriel Yvon-Durocher

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Global Warming ◽

Diffusion Rate ◽

Individual Species ◽

Genetic Evolution ◽

Rates Of Change ◽

Rapid Climate Change ◽

Warming Climate ◽

Intraspecies Competition ◽

High Trait

Abstract We are in a period of relatively rapid climate change. This poses challenges for individual species and threatens the ecosystem services that humanity relies upon. Temperature is a key stressor. In a warming climate, individual organisms may be able to shift their thermal optima through phenotypic plasticity. However, such plasticity is unlikely to be sufficient over the coming centuries. Resilience to warming will also depend on how fast the distribution of traits that define a species can adapt through other methods, in particular through redistribution of the abundance of variants within the population and through genetic evolution. In this paper, we use a simple theoretical ‘trait diffusion’ model to explore how the resilience of a given species to climate change depends on the initial trait diversity (biodiversity), the trait diffusion rate (mutation rate), and the lifetime of the organism. We estimate theoretical dangerous rates of continuous global warming that would exceed the ability of a species to adapt through trait diffusion, and therefore lead to a collapse in the overall productivity of the species. As the rate of adaptation through intraspecies competition and genetic evolution decreases with species lifetime, we find critical rates of change that also depend fundamentally on lifetime. Dangerous rates of warming vary from 1°C per lifetime (at low trait diffusion rate) to 8°C per lifetime (at high trait diffusion rate). We conclude that rapid climate change is liable to favour short-lived organisms (e.g. microbes) rather than longer-lived organisms (e.g. trees).

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