Poster, 39th Annual Conference of the Ecological Society of Germany, Switzerland and Austria (GfÖ), Bayreuth: 2009-09-14 - 2009-09-18
Abstract:
As Part of the project "Impacts of Climate Change on Fauna, Flora and Habitats - Adaptation Strategies for Nature Conservation", funded by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), we survey the international publications related to climate change impacts relevant for nature conservation. Based on this overview, we identify gaps of knowledge and research challenges. We search the literature in ISI Web of Science by means of a special search term. A literature database is established which covers the recent years (2003-2008). The research articles are further evaluated. We found 525 articles that deal with the climate change impacts on species and habitats, 313 articles address biotic interactions and 486 articles are related primarily to specific taxonomic animal groups. The recent international literature increasingly covers the field of impact research of climate change. However, most of the studies are effected in North America and Europe. The main focus is put still on species, followed by distribution modelling and habitats. Many publications deal with vascular plants whereas e.g. mammals and reptiles are less considered. The majority of publications is about long-term trends in mean values and represent a rather static and actualistic approach. The effects of extreme events are scarcely highlighted so far.