Climate change effects on biodiversity, ecosystems, ecosystem services, and natural resource management in the United States
Open accessAbstract
Climate change is a pervasive and growing global threat to biodiversity and ecosystems. Here, we present the most up-to-date assessment of climate change impacts on biodiversity, ecosystems, and ecosystem services in the U.S. and implications for natural resource management. We draw from the 4th National Climate Assessment to summarize observed and projected changes to ecosystems and biodiversity, explore linkages to important ecosystem services, and discuss associated challenges and opportunities for natural resource management. We find that species are responding to climate change through changes in morphology and behavior, phenology, and geographic range shifts, and these changes are mediated by plastic and evolutionary responses. Responses by species and populations, combined with direct effects of climate change on ecosystems (including more extreme events), are resulting in widespread changes in productivity, species interactions, vulnerability to biological invasions, and other emergent properties. Collectively, these impacts alter the benefits and services that natural ecosystems can provide to society. Although not all impacts are negative, even positive changes can require costly societal adjustments. Natural resource managers need proactive, flexible adaptation strategies that consider historical and future outlooks to minimize costs over the long term. Many organizations are beginning to explore these approaches, but implementation is not yet prevalent or systemat…
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Climate change and human activities are intensifying environmental change, testing the resilience of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, with diverse drivers affecting different ecosystems.
“Climate change and human activities are intensifying environmental change, testing the resilience of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, with diverse drivers affecting different ecosystems [376].”
From Harnessing bacterial consortia for effective bioremediation: targeted removal of heavy metals, hydrocarbons, and persistent pollutants (2025) · cites this paper as [376]
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- Authors
- Weiskopf, S. R., Rubenstein, M. A., Crozier, L. G., Gaichas, S., Griffis, R., Halofsky, J. E., Hyde, K. J. W., Morelli, T. L., Morisette, J. T., Muñoz, R. C., Pershing, A. J., Peterson, D. L., Poudel, R., Staudinger, M. D., Sutton-Grier, A. E., Thompson, L., Vose, J., Weltzin, J. F., & Whyte, K. P.
- Affiliations
- United States Geological Survey (US)
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (US)
- NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Northeast Fisheries Science Center (US)
- NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (US)
- University of Washington (US)
- United States Department of the Interior (US)
- Gulf of Maine Research Institute (US)
- US Forest Service (US)
- Michigan State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Weiskopf, Sarah R.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Science of The Total Environment
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-09
- Volume
- 733
- Pages
- 137782
- ISSN
- 0048-9697 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3012037987
- Cited by
- 1,262
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 213 · 2025: 371 · 2024: 323 · 2023: 181 · 2022: 104 · 2021: 62 · 2020: 8
- FWCI
- 7.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- The Science of The Total Environment (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- NOAA Institutional Repository (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Geological Survey
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecological Modeling › Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Keywords
- climate change impacts, biodiversity, ecosystems, ecosystem services, natural resource management, phenological shifts, range shifts, phenotypic plasticity, adaptive evolution, extreme weather events, biological invasions, species interactions, ecosystem productivity, climate change adaptation, United States
- MeSH terms
- Natural Resources, Conservation of Natural Resources, United States, Ecosystem, Biodiversity, Climate Change
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