Review of the literature on the links between biodiversity and climate change

This report draws on recent research to summarise advances in our understanding of the impacts of climate change on biodiversity. The evidence for the impacts on biodiversity comes from three principal sources. First, from direct observation of changes in components of biodiversity in nature that can be clearly related to changes in climatic variables. Second, experimental studies using manipulations to elucidate responses to climate change. Finally, and most widely, from modeling studies where our current understanding of the requirements and constraints on the distribution of species and ecosystems are combined with modeled changes in climatic variables to project the impacts of climate change and predict future distributions and changes in populations.