Abstract

There is now ample evidence of the ecological impacts of recent climate change, from polar terrestrial to tropical marine environments. The responses of both flora and fauna span an array of ecosystems and organizational hierarchies, from the species to the community levels. Despite continued uncertainty as to community and ecosystem trajectories under global change, our review exposes a coherent pattern of ecological change across systems. Although we are only at an early stage in the projected trends of global warming, ecological responses to recent climate change are already clearly visible.

1. Institute of Geobotany, University of Hannover, Nienburger Str. 17, 30167 Hannover, Germany
2. Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, 208 Mueller Lab, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
3. British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK
4. Department of Ecology, Technical University Munich, Am Hochanger 13, 85354 Freising, Germany
5. Integrative Biology, Patterson Labs 141, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712, USA
6. School of Biological Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QG, UK
7. IFREMER, Centre Halieutique Méditerranéen et Tropical, Bvld Jean Monnet, BP 171, 34203 Sète Cedex, France
8. Centre for Marine Studies, University of Queensland, St Lucia, 4072 Queensland, Australia
9. Institute for Avian Research 'Vogelwarte Helgoland', An der Vogelwarte 21, 26386 Wilhelmshaven, Germany

Correspondence to: Gian-Reto Walther¹ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to G.-R.W. (e-mail: Email: walther@geobotanik.uni-hannover.de).