Climate, climate change and range boundaries

Abstract Aim A major issue in ecology, biogeography, conservation biology and invasion biology is the extent to which climate, and hence climate change, contributes to the positions of species’ range boundaries. Thirty years of rapid climate warming provides an excellent opportunity to test the hypothesis that climate acts as a major constraint on range boundaries, treating anthropogenic climate change as a large‐scale experiment. Location UK and global data, and literature. Methods This article analyses the frequencies with which species have responded to climate change by shifting their range boundaries. It does not consider abundance or other changes. Results For the majority of species, boundaries shifted…

• NE
  Natural Environment Research Council