The climate is changing faster than animals can adapt

A study just published in the scientific journal Nature Communications presents worrying results on animals’ adaptation to climate change. It concludes that while species are changing some aspects of their lives in response to global warming, they are not doing so quickly enough and do not always make the right changes.

Adaptation Animals @en Birds Climate change Constanti stefanescu @en Iolanda filella @en Phenology

Drought poses a threat to soil biodiversity and nutrient cycling across Europe

A CREAF-led European study published in the journal Global Change Biology warns that the drought associated with climate change could reduce soil fauna diversity and slow the decomposition of leaf litter (fallen leaves, twigs, bark, etc.), potentially hindering the recycling of nutrients for plants throughout Europe.

Biodiversity Climate change Collembola Descomposition Dryness Fuille peguero Leaves Nutrients @en Soil Soil organisms

Nunc incrementa lente exeunt, festinatur in damnum

For Ramon Margalef, in the centenary of his birth.

Why do not we find ecosystems in the atmosphere, as in oceans and continents? In the atmosphere, spores, pollen grains and micro-organisms float, most of them expelled from soils. But trophic networks are not established, nor are there large flows of energy and matter controlled by living beings.

Disturbances Ecology Margalef @en Paco lloret @en Ramon margalef @en Succession

Drought is the main factor in falls in Mediterranean bird and butterfly populations

This is reflected in data from bird and butterfly monitoring programmes that have been running in Catalonia for 17 and 25 years respectively. Drought affects bird and butterfly populations differently, with butterfly species from arid areas and bird species from humid areas undergoing the greatest declines.

Biodiversity @ca @en Cbms @en @ca Climate change @ca Constanti stefanescu @en @ca Dryness @ca Precipitations @ca Sergi herrando @en @ca Socc @en @ca Soil uses @ca Water @ca
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Project / Initiative
European Union Projects
Inactive

EuroGEOSS SHowcases: Applications Powered by Europe

Agricultura mediterrània
Project / Initiative
Subnational projects
Inactive

The Cocoon system: ecotechnology for ecological restoration and agriculture in the Mediterranean basin

The key to halting climate change is reducing fossil fuel combustion, not planting trees

Against the backdrop of today’s Global Climate Strike, we report on an article according to which planting trees could become an excuse to carry on emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Josep Peñuelas, a CSIC researcher based at CREAF, says our priority should be reducing fossil fuel combustion to zero.