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A unifying framework for studying and managing climate-driven rates of ecological change

Abstract

During the Anthropocene and other eras of rapidly changing climates, rates of change of ecological systems can be described as fast, slow or abrupt. Fast ecological responses closely track climate change, slow responses substantively lag climate forcing, causing disequilibria and reduced fitness, and abrupt responses are characterized by nonlinear, threshold-type responses at rates that are large relative to background variability and forcing. All three kinds of climate-driven ecological dynamics are well documented in contemporary studies, palaeoecology and invasion biology. This fast–slow–abrupt conceptual framework helps unify a bifurcated climate-change literature, which tends to separately consider the ecological risks posed by slow or abrupt ecological dynamics. Given the prospect of ongoing climate change for the next several decades to centuries of the Anthropocene and wide variations in ecological rates of change, the theory and practice of managing ecological systems should shift attention from target states to target rates. A rates-focused framework broadens the strategic menu for managers to include options to both slow and accelerate ecological rates of change, seeks to reduce mismatch among climate and ecological rates of change, and provides a unified conceptual framework for tackling the distinct risks associated with fast, slow and abrupt ecological rates of change.

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Fig. 1: Past, present and future temperature changes and the temporal scale of biological responses.
Fig. 2: Processes governing the ecological timescales of response to climate change.
Fig. 3: In a rates-based framework for designing management strategies, the key consideration is the rates of climate forcing relative to rates of response in ecological systems.

ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (b); Jens-Christian Svenning (c); Stephen T. Jackson, Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center, US Geological Survey (d).

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Acknowledgements

This work has been supported by the National Science Foundation (DEB-1855781) and the UW2020 initiative of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, a VILLUM Investigator project funded by VILLUM FONDEN (grant no.16549), and the Aarhus Universitets Forskningsfond Grant (AUFF-F-2018-7-8). This manuscript was improved by discussion with A. George and other members of the Williams Lab. The manuscript was improved by comments from T. Webb.

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J.W.W., A.O. and J.-C.S. jointly contributed to paper planning and discussion. J.W.W. and A.O. developed figures. J.W.W. led writing with contributions from A.O. and J.-C.S.

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Williams, J.W., Ordonez, A. & Svenning, JC. A unifying framework for studying and managing climate-driven rates of ecological change. Nat Ecol Evol 5, 17–26 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01344-5

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