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Cited by 1,084Climate Change and Environmental ImpactEcology and Vegetation Dynamics StudiesLand Use and Ecosystem Services

Climate change and ecosystems: threats, opportunities and solutions

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Malhi, Yadvinder, Franklin, Janet, Seddon, Nathalie, Solan, Martin, Turner, Monica G., Field, Christopher B., Knowlton, Nancy·2020·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
DOI 10.1098/rstb.2019.0104PMC PMC7017779
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Abstract

The rapid anthropogenic climate change that is being experienced in the early twenty-first century is intimately entwined with the health and functioning of the biosphere. Climate change is impacting ecosystems through changes in mean conditions and in climate variability, coupled with other associated changes such as increased ocean acidification and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. It also interacts with other pressures on ecosystems, including degradation, defaunation and fragmentation. There is a need to understand the ecological dynamics of these climate impacts, to identify hotspots of vulnerability and resilience and to identify management interventions that may assist biosphere resilience to climate change. At the same time, ecosystems can also assist in the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change. The mechanisms, potential and limits of such nature-based solutions to climate change need to be explored and quantified. This paper introduces a thematic issue dedicated to the interaction between climate change and the biosphere. It explores novel perspectives on how ecosystems respond to climate change, how ecosystem resilience can be enhanced and how ecosystems can assist in addressing the challenge of a changing climate. It draws on a Royal Society-National Academy of Sciences Forum held in Washington DC in November 2018, where these themes and issues were discussed. We conclude by identifying some priorities for academic research and practical implementation, in order to maximize the potential for maintaining a diverse, resilient and well-functioning biosphere under the challenging conditions of the twenty-first century. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Climate change and ecosystems: threats, opportunities and solutions’.

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  • Reestablishing microbial communities following perturbations is a crucial component of the many processes that change how ecosystems work in response to disturbances caused by changing climate conditions and more people doing more activities.

    “Reestablishing microbial communities following perturbations is a crucial component of the many processes that change how ecosystems work in response to disturbances caused by changing climate conditions and more people doing more activities [222].”

    From Harnessing bacterial consortia for effective bioremediation: targeted removal of heavy metals, hydrocarbons, and persistent pollutants (2025) · cites this paper as [222]

    Theme 1 says soil microbial communities are critical to biogeochemical cycling and describes how bacterial and fungal food webs help ecosystems recover from perturbations. The paper also discusses climate change and human disturbances, but it does not establish that reestablishing microbial communities is crucial across the many ecosystem-changing processes attributed to both drivers. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Synthetic consortia may struggle to establish themselves in native microbial ecosystems, where competition with indigenous microbes can limit their survival and efficiency.

    “synthetic consortia may struggle to establish themselves in native microbial ecosystems, where competition with indigenous microbes can limit their survival and efficiency [168,222].”

    From Harnessing bacterial consortia for effective bioremediation: targeted removal of heavy metals, hydrocarbons, and persistent pollutants (2025) · cites this paper as [222]

    The discussion of soil microbial communities in Theme 1 concerns their resilience to climate extremes, not the establishment of synthetic consortia. Searches for synthetic consortia and for competition with resident microbes found no passage addressing their survival or efficiency. (LLM, conf=0.74)

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Research works printed but not linked: 27

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Authors
Malhi, Y., Franklin, J., Seddon, N., Solan, M., Turner, M. G., Field, C. B., & Knowlton, N.
Affiliations
  • University of Oxford (GB)
  • University of California, Riverside (US)
  • Nature-based Solutions Initiative, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, 11a Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3SZ, UK
  • National Oceanography Centre (GB)
  • University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
  • Stanford University (US)
  • National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian, MRC 163, PO Box 37012, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA
Corresponding author
Malhi, Yadvinder
ORCID
Venue
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Publisher
The Royal Society
Published
2020-01-27
Volume
375
Issue
1794
Pages
20190104
ISSN
  • 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
  • 1471-2970
DOI
10.1098/rstb.2019.0104
PMC
PMC7017779
OpenAlex
W3001949784
Cited by
1,084
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 193 · 2025: 277 · 2024: 229 · 2023: 169 · 2022: 123 · 2021: 79 · 2020: 14
FWCI
34.69
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (acceptedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Natural Environment Research Council (NE/R002649/1, NE/P001092/1)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Climate Change and Environmental Impact
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Land Use and Ecosystem Services
Keywords
climate change impacts on ecosystems, ecosystem resilience, climate variability, ocean acidification, atmospheric CO2, ecosystem degradation, defaunation, habitat fragmentation, natural climate solutions, climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, ecosystem functioning, biodiversity conservation
MeSH terms
Conservation of Natural Resources, Ecosystem, Climate Change

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