Open AccessSynthesising the multiple impacts of climatic variability on community responses to climate change
Author(s) -
Terry J. Christopher D.,
O'Sullivan Jacob D.,
Rossberg Axel G.
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
ecography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.973
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1600-0587
pISSN - 0906-7590
DOI - 10.1111/ecog.06123
Subject(s) - climate change , ecology , interspecific competition , range (aeronautics) , environmental change , temporal scales , environmental resource management , global change , environmental science , biology , materials science , composite material
Recent developments in understanding and predicting species responses to climate change have emphasised the importance of both environmental variability and consideration of the wider biotic community. However, to date, the interaction between the two has received less attention. Both theoretical and empirical results suggest that the combined effect of environmental variability and interspecific interactions can have strong impacts on existing range limits. Here we explore how competitive interactions and temporal variability can interact with the potential to strongly influence range shift dynamics. We highlight the need to understand these between‐process interactions in order to predict how species will respond to global change. In particular, future research will need to move from evaluating possibilities to quantifying their impact. We emphasise the value and utility of empirically parameterised models to determine the direction and relative importance of these forces in natural systems.