Life in a Changing Climate

How old is the earth?

4.6 million years

Stratigraphy

the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification)

Ice house climates

Ice at the poles

Hot house climates

No ice at the poles

Wilson cycles

Continental rifts and coalescence cycles

Drivers of context-dependent responses to climate change

• Rate and magnitude of climate change experienced

• Evolutionary processes and genetic diversity

• Traits, behaviour and physiology

• Range/habitat

Steps to detect the effects of climate change on wildlife

Step 1: Consider natural history and question

Step 2: Understand the baseline and reference point

Step 3: Monitor change over time

Step 4: Critically evaluate change over time

Limitations of current monitoring approaches

• Under-represented taxa and ecosystems

• Potential bias

• Opportunistic data sources

Long term data sources

Scientific studies

Monitoring programs

Data platforms

Meteorological data

Monitoring programs limitations

Non-academic organisers

Data collected by “non-specialists”

Data programs limitations

Primarily collected by “non-specialists”

Trade-offs for long-term datasets

• Between scope and detail of dataset

Climate change is affecting bird

• Physiology

• Morphology

• Migration

• Communities

• Ecosystem services

• Evolution

II Climate change is affecting bird

• Reproduction

• Colouration

• Moult

• Eggs

• Species ranges

Range shift (biogeography)

72.0 ± 13.5 km per decade

Which marine organisms are most vulnerable to climate change?

Organisms adapted to more stable thermal environments, sessile organisms and early life stages

Ecological importance of the oceans

• Forms largest habitat on Earth

• Supports more animal biomass than land

• Regulates global climate system