OBSOLETE: South America

Abstract

South America's climate is already changing and projections for the year 2100 show a warming of 1.7–6.7°C, a 22% reduction in rainfall in northeastern Brazil coupled with a 25% increase in rainfall in southeastern South America. Climate change in South America will interact with other stressors in the continent, especially land use changes, with strong positive feedbacks between them. Studies on the vulnerability of South America's biodiversity to climate change are scarce. Still, ecological niche modeling studies predict range contraction for most species as climate changes and the inefficiency of current protected areas to protect species in the future. Experimental studies have focused on changes in rainfall distribution in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, showing negative impacts of climate change on ecosystem's structure and processes. Climate change is likely to approximate ecosystems to a tipping point and compromise species interactions, ecological equilibrium, and important ecosystem services in the continent.