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

An Author Correction to this article was published on 11 July 2018

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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.

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Fig. 1: The press–pulse framework, showing the components of climate change and climate variability experienced by biological systems.
Fig. 2: Case study locations overlaid on SAT and SST anomalies.
Fig. 3: Extreme biological responses to extreme weather events.

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Change history

  • 11 July 2018

    In the version of this Perspective originally published, affiliations 1 and 4 ware incorrect, and should have read: “1Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems CRC, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia” and “4Centre for Water, Climate and Land (CWCL), University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia”. These have been corrected in the online versions of this Perspective.

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Acknowledgements

This paper is the result of a workshop on climate variability and biodiversity (past, present, future), funded by The National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) and organized by N. Roslyn. D. Rosauer participated in the workshop. K. Henle (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research–UFZ) gave helpful advice about management options.

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Contributions

R.M.B.H. and D.M.J.S.B. conceived the study, with input from all authors. R.M.B.H. led the writing. M. L. suggested the application of the Press-Pulse framework in this context. All authors contributed to the formulation of the paper and contributed to the first manuscript draft and subsequent revisions. T.A.R. created Fig. 1. T.V. created Fig. 2, based on data and analyses contributed by C.T., S.E.P-K, S.M., P.J.M. and T.A.R. L.J.B and R.M.B.H. created Fig. 3 and compiled the Supplementary Material. P.J.M., D.M.J.S.B. and N.D.C. contributed images to Fig. 3. R.M.B.H., L.J.B., N.R.A. and A.B.N. wrote the Introduction and Discussion. T.V. led the writing of the Climate drivers section, with contributions from C.T., S.E.P-K, R.M.B.H., S.M. and P.J.M. D.M.J.S.B. led the writing of the obligate seeder forest collapse and fire in Gondwanan refugia case studies, with analyses contributed by G.W. M.F. contributed to the fire in Gondwanan refugia case study. L.B.H. led the writing of the mangrove dieback case study, with contributions from N.C.D. T.W. and L.E.C. wrote the kelp forest regime shift case study. M.L. and M.K. wrote the arid zone boom and bust case study. P.J.M. and C.W. wrote the riverine forest decline case study.

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Correspondence to R. M. B. Harris.

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Supplementary Notes 1-6, Supplementary Figures S1, S2, S1.3.1, S1.3.2, S1.41, S1.42, S1.51, S1.52, S1.61, S1.62

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Harris, R.M.B., Beaumont, L.J., Vance, T.R. et al. Biological responses to the press and pulse of climate trends and extreme events. Nature Clim Change 8, 579–587 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0187-9

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