First meeting: 23.-27.06.2025

PIs:
Nuria Galiana
Juan David González-Trujillo

iDiv member:
Ulrich Brose

Project summary:
The magnitude and frequency of extreme climatic events (ECEs) have increased under current rates of global environmental change. Most assessments of climate change impacts on biodiversity have primarily focused on changes associated with the central tendencies of climate change, such as gradual warming, while the effects of ECEs, like heat waves and droughts, have received limited attention. Since coexisting species can exhibit varying sensitivities to climate alterations, ECEs have the potential to destabilise and reorganise ecological communities.
Ecological networks offer a valuable means to assess the impacts of ECEs on ecological communities. They capture not only changes in species composition but also alterations in biotic interactions, which are fundamental to the functioning of natural ecosystems. However, it remains largely unknown how and to what extent ecological networks change under extreme climatic conditions. In sNEXT, by using a global database comprising 100 temporal series of geolocated plant-frugivore networks, combined with historical records of ECEs for each location, we aim to: 1) evaluate the effect of ECEs on frugivore networks, and 2) predict future network structures under various climate change scenarios.
Upon completion, this project will have synthesised the impacts of various ECEs on ecological networks globally and generated predictions for the future of frugivore networks amid increasing rates of ECEs. This new body of knowledge will be crucial for further assessing the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and for guiding informed conservation planning of natural ecosystems.

In person participants:
tba

Remote partcipants:
tba

Meeting report:
tba