Register      Login
Wildlife Research Wildlife Research Society
Ecology, management and conservation in natural and modified habitats
Shopping Cart: ( empty )
You are here: Home > Journals > WR > WR07116
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 35(3)

Synergies between climate change, extinctions and invasive vertebrates

Barry W. Brook
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

Research Institute for Climate Change and Sustainability, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia. Email: barry.brook@adelaide.edu.au

Wildlife Research 35(3) 249-252 https://doi.org/10.1071/WR07116
Submitted: 17 August 2007  Accepted: 16 January 2008   Published: 20 May 2008

Abstract

There is mounting evidence for the direct ecological impacts of recent climate change, and for amplifying feedbacks, in both directions, with other drivers of biodiversity loss, such as habitat fragmentation and overexploitation. Surprisingly, however, empirical and experimental data on the links between climate change and species introductions are scant, especially for invasive vertebrates. Because the theoretical basis for their mutually reinforced impact is strong, this dearth of evidence likely reflects the difficulty in studying such interactions, and insufficient attention to this topic, rather than a genuine lack of association. Given the unprecedented rate of recent and predicted future climate change, and the continued exponential rise in species invasions worldwide, it is imperative that we sharpen our scientific focus so as to best equip wildlife managers with the knowledge to tackle this inevitable synergy of threats.


Acknowledgements

I thank three anonymous referees for comments that greatly improved an earlier draft of the manuscript.


References

Benning, T. L. , LaPointe, D. , Atkinson, C. T. , and Vitousek, P. M. (2002). Interactions of climate change with biological invasions and land use in the Hawaiian Islands: modeling the fate of endemic birds using a geographic information system. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 99, 14246–14249.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | Diamond J. M. (1989). Overview of recent extinctions. In ‘Conservation for the Twenty-first Century’. (Eds D. Western and M. C. Pearl.) pp. 37–41. (Oxford University Press: Oxford.)

Didham, R. K. , Tylianakis, J. M. , Gemmell, N. J. , Rand, T. A. , and Ewers, R. M. (2007). Interactive effects of habitat modification and species invasion on native species decline. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 22, 489–496.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Hallam A. (2005). ‘Catastrophes and Lesser Calamities: The Causes of Mass Extinctions.’ (Oxford University Press: New York.)

Haywood, A. , and Williams, M. (2005). The climate of the future: clues from three million years ago. Geology Today 21, 138–143.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | IPCC (2007). Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: fourth assessment report (AR4). Available online at http://www.ipcc.ch

Jackson, D. B. (2007). Factors affecting the abundance of introduced hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) to the Hebridean island of South Uist in the absence of natural predators and implications for nesting birds. Journal of Zoology 271, 210–217.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Lawton J. H., and May R. M. (Eds) (1995). ‘Extinction Rates.’ (Oxford University Press: Oxford.)

Lockwood J. L., Hoopes M. F., and Marchetti M. P. (2007). ‘Invasion Ecology.’ (Blackwell: Oxford.)

Lodge, D. M. (1993). Biological invasions – lessons for ecology. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 8, 133–137.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Lovejoy T. E., and Hannah L. (Eds.) (2005). ‘Climate Change and Biodiversity.’ (Yale University Press: New Haven, CT.)

Macdonald D. W., King C. M., and Strachan R. (2007). Introduced species and the line between biodiversity conservation and naturalistic eugenics. In ‘Key Topics in Conservation Biology’. (Eds D. W. Macdonald and K. Service.) pp. 186–205. (Blackwell: Oxford.)

MEA (2005). ‘Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Synthesis of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.’ (Island Press: Washington, DC.)

Mora, C. , Metzger, R. , Rollo, A. , and Myers, R. A. (2007). Experimental simulations about the effects of overexploitation and habitat fragmentation on populations facing environmental warming. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B, Biological Sciences 274, 1023–1028.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Overpeck J. T., Whitlock C., and Huntley B. (2003). Terrestrial biosphere dynamics in the climate system: past and future. In ‘Paleoclimate, Global Change and the Future’. (Eds R. S. Bradley, T. F. Pedersen, K. D. Alverson and K. F. Bergmann.) pp. 81–103. (Springer-Verlag: Berlin.)

Parmesan, C. (2006). Ecological and evolutionary response to recent climate change. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 37, 637–669.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Sodhi N. S., Brook B. W., and Bradshaw C. J. A. (2007). ‘Tropical Conservation Biology.’ (Blackwell: Oxford.)

Stachowicz, J. J. , Terwin, J. R. , Whitlatch, R. B. , and Osman, R. W. (2002). Linking climate change and biological invasions: ocean warming facilitates nonindigenous species invasions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 99, 15497–15500.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |

Urban, M. C. , Phillips, B. L. , Skelly, D. K. , and Shine, R. (2007). The cane toad’s (Chaunus [Bufo] marinus) increasing ability to invade Australia is revealed by a dynamically updated range model. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B, Biological Sciences 274, 1413–1419.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Ward, N. L. , and Masters, G. J. (2007). Linking climate change and species invasion: an illustration using insect herbivores. Global Change Biology 13, 1605–1615.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Weltzin, J. F. , Belote, R. T. , and Sanders, N. J. (2003). Biological invaders in a greenhouse world: will elevated CO2 fuel plant invasions? Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 1, 146–153.


Williams, J. W. , Jackson, S. T. , and Kutzbach, J. E. (2007). Projected distributions of novel and disappearing climates by 2100 AD. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 104, 5738–5742.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |