New research shows that safeguarding species and ecosystems and the benefits they provide for society against future climatic change requires effective solutions which can only be formulated from reliable forecasts.
An international team of scientists led by researchers from the University of Adelaide and University of Copenhagen, has identified and examined past warming events similar to those anticipated in the coming decades, to better understand how species and ecosystems will cope.
”Reference periods in Earth’s history serve as natural laboratories for understanding biodiversity responses to climate change and improving strategies for conservation under ongoing and future climate change,” says lead author Associate Professor Damien Fordham from the University of Adelaide’s Environment Institute.
Approximately 40 per cent of terrestrial ecosystems are projected to have experienced shifts in temperature during the past 21,000 years that are similar in pace and magnitude to regional-scale future forecasts.
Read more at University of Adelaide
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