Climate-change ecology articles within Nature Communications

Featured

• Article
  22 January 2015 | Open Access

  Climate variation explains a third of global crop yield variability

  Agricultural crops are closely linked to the climate in which they grow, but the extent to which variability in weather influences yield is not well characterized. Here, Ray et al. find that climatic variation explains around a third of the variation in global crop yields, with important regional variations.

  • Deepak K. Ray
  • , James S. Gerber
  •  & Paul C. West

• Article | 20 January 2015

  Flooding disturbances increase resource availability and productivity but reduce stability in diverse plant communities

  Most studies investigating the biodiversity–stability hypothesis have focused on disturbances that induce productivity losses. Using data from a 200–year flood event in a grassland biodiversity experiment, Wright et al. show that disturbances that increase productivity can also drive decreased stability.

  • Alexandra J. Wright
  • , Anne Ebeling
  •  & Nico Eisenhauer

• Article | 16 October 2014

  Evidence for a weakening relationship between interannual temperature variability and northern vegetation activity

  Northern Hemisphere photosynthesis is thought to respond positively to temperature variations, yet the strength of this relationship may change over time. Here, using a combination of satellite data and models, the authors assess the temporal change of this relationship over the past three decades.

  • Shilong Piao
  • , Huijuan Nan
  •  & Anping Chen

• Article
  06 October 2014 | Open Access

  Middle-Eastern plant communities tolerate 9 years of drought in a multi-site climate manipulation experiment

  Semi-arid and Mediterranean ecosystems are predicted to be vulnerable to climate change. Here, Tielbörger et al. show that plants along a steep climatic gradient in a biodiversity hotspot are resistant to both irrigation and drought in multiple years of experimental rainfall manipulation.

  • Katja Tielbörger
  • , Mark C. Bilton
  •  & Marcelo Sternberg

• Article | 07 July 2014

  Winter and spring controls on the summer food web of the coastal West Antarctic Peninsula

  The Western Antarctic Peninsular is subject to climate change, including increased winter temperatures and melting sea ice. In this study, the authors demonstrate that climate change in this area effects bacteria and phytoplankton levels, which culminates in an altered diet for the apex predator, the Adélie penguin.

  • Grace K. Saba
  • , William R. Fraser
  •  & Oscar M. Schofield

• Article | 27 May 2014

  Loss of frugivore seed dispersal services under climate change

  Seed dispersal can determine the ability of plant species to track shifting climates; therefore, it can influence future biodiversity outcomes. Here, the authors model seed dispersal by fruit-eating vertebrates across the Australian Wet Tropics rainforest and find that it is projected to markedly decrease for many plant species.

  • Karel Mokany
  • , Soumya Prasad
  •  & David A. Westcott

• Article | 23 January 2014

  The European functional tree of bird life in the face of global change

  Species response to environmental change can have an impact on community assemblages and ecosystem functioning. Here, the authors assess the combined impact of regional land use and climate change on bird functional diversity and find that global changes may lead to uniform species assemblages across Europe.

  • Wilfried Thuiller
  • , Samuel Pironon
  •  & Niklaus E. Zimmermann

• Article | 01 October 2013

  Advancing plant phenology and reduced herbivore production in a terrestrial system associated with sea ice decline

  The effect of lower Arctic sea ice levels on local terrestrial ecosystems is not well studied. Here Kerby and Post find that decreasing Arctic sea ice levels are associated with the early emergence of plant growth, which decouples plant growth from the birth of Caribou calves, and may be associated with increased calf mortality.

  • Jeffrey T. Kerby
  •  & Eric Post

• Article | 13 August 2013

  Forecasting flowering phenology under climate warming by modelling the regulatory dynamics of flowering-time genes

  Climate change and increasing temperature have an impact on the flowering time of plants but models predicting these effects are lacking. Satake et al. provide a model based on differential gene expression to predict the response of plants to warmer temperatures and find that the flowering period is shortened.

  • Akiko Satake
  • , Tetsuhiro Kawagoe
  •  & Hiroshi Kudoh

• Article | 09 April 2013

  Ancient DNA reveals that bowhead whale lineages survived Late Pleistocene climate change and habitat shifts

  The response of marine species to the Pleistocene climate change is largely unknown. Foote et al. find that the bowhead whale tracked shifting habitat at the end of the Pleistocene and increased in effective population size as suitable habitat and population connectivity increased.

  • Andrew D. Foote
  • , Kristin Kaschner
  •  & M Thomas P. Gilbert

• Article
  22 February 2011 | Open Access

  Climate change drives microevolution in a wild bird

  Organisms are expected to adapt to climate change because of selection pressures. Here, the authors demonstrate that brown morphs of Finnish owls are selected against in winters with plentiful snow, and concordantly, increasing winter temperatures and lower snow fall results in the selection of the brown morph.

  • Patrik Karell
  • , Kari Ahola
  •  & Jon E. Brommer