Abstract
AbstractAimClimate and land‐use change, the greatest pressures on biodiversity, can directly influence each other. One key case is the impact land‐use change has on local climatic conditions: human‐altered areas are often warmer and drier than natural habitats. This can have multiple impacts on biodiversity and is a rapidly developing field of research. Here, we summarize the current state of understanding on the impact that local climatic changes have on biodiversity responses to land‐use change, in particular looking at whether human‐altered land uses favour species with certain climatic niches.LocationGlobal.MethodsWe review studies that have identified links between species' climatic niches and the habitats/land‐use types they inhabit. We also critically discuss the methods used to explore this topic (such as the estimation of fundamental vs. realized climatic niches), identify key knowledge gaps by reference to related macroecological literature and make suggestions for further work.ResultsAssemblages of vertebrate and invertebrate species in numerous human‐dominated land uses have been found to have higher proportions of individuals affiliated with higher temperatures and lower precipitation levels than assemblages within natural habitats. However, uncertainty surrounds the mechanisms that underlie these observed differences between communities across land‐use types, and it remains unexplored as to whether these trends differ geographically or taxonomically.Main conclusionShifts are being observed within human‐altered land uses to communities with, on average, warmer and drier climatic niches. A better understanding of the effects of local climatic changes associated with land‐use change will enhance our ability to predict future impacts on biodiversity, identify the species most at risk from interactions between climate and land‐use change and set up suitable management and conservation plans.
Highlights
Rapid human population growth has resulted in increasing exploita‐ tion of the environment and conversion of land for human use (Foley et al, 2005; Laurance, Sayer, & Cassman, 2014; Meyer & Turner II, 1992)
In‐ vertebrate species usually inhabiting drier climates were found to a greater extent within agricultural and urban assemblages compared with forest assemblages (Menke et al, 2011). These results suggest that human‐altered land uses are driving shifts towards communities composed of species that can tolerate drier local climates
Local climatic conditions are affected by land use, with human‐domi‐ nated land uses often found to have hotter and drier local climates compared to areas of primary vegetation (Britter & Hanna, 2003; Frishkoff et al, 2016)
Summary
Rapid human population growth has resulted in increasing exploita‐ tion of the environment and conversion of land for human use (Foley et al, 2005; Laurance, Sayer, & Cassman, 2014; Meyer & Turner II, 1992). A rapidly developing field of research, with studies emerging from around the world, is the impact that land‐use change has on local climatic systems, and its knock‐on effects for biodiversity Conversion of primary (nat‐ ural, undisturbed) habitats to human‐dominated land uses (such as agriculture and urban areas) causes changes to land cover and vege‐ tation structure, which can directly impact local climatic conditions (Sampaio et al, 2007; Senior et al, 2017). With the importance of integrating thermal biology into landscape ecology recently being highlighted (Nowakowski, Watling, et al, 2018), and the effects of local precipitation changes beginning to be acknowledged (Frishkoff et al, 2016), it is crucial that these changes in local climatic systems are incorporated into studies aiming to understand species' responses to land‐use change
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