We explore the interactions and feedbacks among biodiversity and climate at the levels of species, communities and entire ecosystems in space and across timescales, including the geological past over millions of years, present day, and decadal to millennial trends.
We reconstruct past climate change, analyze past and current changes in ecological communities including taxonomic and functional diversity, investigate the long-term dynamics of biodiversity loss, and build projection models for future biodiversity. We integrate biosciences and geosciences, leverage data on organismal traits from field observations, global databases and natural history collections, and link empirical research and modeling. Our research contributes to understanding the ecosystem-level consequences of the twin crisis of biodiversity loss and climate change.
Key questions- How do biodiversity, climate and Earth surface processes interact on different time scales?
- How does climate in interaction with other anthropogenic drivers shape the ecological dynamics of species and communities at all levels of biodiversity?
- How does future climate change in interaction with other anthropogenic drivers shape ecosystem processes and functions?
