Biological responses to the press and pulse of climate trends and extreme events

R. M. B. Harris (), L. J. Beaumont, T. R. Vance, C. R. Tozer, T. A. Remenyi, S. E. Perkins-Kirkpatrick, P. J. Mitchell, A. B. Nicotra, S. McGregor, N. R. Andrew, M. Letnic, M. R. Kearney, T. Wernberg, L. B. Hutley, L. E. Chambers, M.-S. Fletcher, M. R. Keatley, C. A. Woodward, G. Williamson, N. C. Duke and D. M. J. S. Bowman
Additional contact information
R. M. B. Harris: University of Tasmania
L. J. Beaumont: Macquarie University
T. R. Vance: University of Tasmania
C. R. Tozer: University of Tasmania
T. A. Remenyi: University of Tasmania
S. E. Perkins-Kirkpatrick: Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales
P. J. Mitchell: CSIRO Agriculture and Food
A. B. Nicotra: Research School of Biology, Australian National University
S. McGregor: University of New South Wales
N. R. Andrew: University of New England
M. Letnic: University of New South Wales
M. R. Kearney: The University of Melbourne
T. Wernberg: University of Western Australia
L. B. Hutley: Charles Darwin University
M.-S. Fletcher: The University of Melbourne
M. R. Keatley: The University of Melbourne
C. A. Woodward: Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organisation
G. Williamson: University of Tasmania
N. C. Duke: James Cook University
D. M. J. S. Bowman: University of Tasmania

Nature Climate Change, 2018, vol. 8, issue 7, 579-587

Abstract: Abstract The interaction of gradual climate trends and extreme weather events since the turn of the century has triggered complex and, in some cases, catastrophic ecological responses around the world. We illustrate this using Australian examples within a press–pulse framework. Despite the Australian biota being adapted to high natural climate variability, recent combinations of climatic presses and pulses have led to population collapses, loss of relictual communities and shifts into novel ecosystems. These changes have been sudden and unpredictable, and may represent permanent transitions to new ecosystem states without adaptive management interventions. The press–pulse framework helps illuminate biological responses to climate change, grounds debate about suitable management interventions and highlights possible consequences of (non-) intervention.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0187-9 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcli:v:8:y:2018:i:7:d:10.1038_s41558-018-0187-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/nclimate/

DOI: 10.1038/s41558-018-0187-9

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Climate Change is currently edited by Bronwyn Wake

More articles in Nature Climate Change from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().