Jennifer L. Williams*, Hans Jacquemyn, Brad M. Ochocki, Rein Brys and Tom E. X. Miller Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, 1984 West Mall, Vancouver BC V6T 1Z2, Canada; KU Leuven, Department of Biology, Laboratory of Plant Population and Conservation Biology, Leuven B-3001, Belgium; and Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Department of BioSciences, Rice University,...

Predicted universal responses of ectotherms to climate warming include increased maximum population growth rate and changes in body size through the temperature-size rule. However, the mechanisms that would underlie these predicted responses are not clear. Many studies have focused on proximate mechanisms of physiological processes affecting individual growth. One can also consider ultimate mec...

Some of the most dramatic effects of climate change are expected to be changes in the hydrologic regime. Increased temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns have the potential to alter both the availability and quality of freshwater. The purpose of this synthesis article is to review the research on the effects of natural disturbance (focused on wildfire and insect infestation) and pos...

Many species are expected to shift their geographic distribution as climates change, and yet climate change is only one of a suite of stressors that species face. Species that might, in theory, be able to shift rapidly enough to keep up with climate velocity (the rate and direction that isotherms move across the landscape) may not in actuality be able to do so when facing the cumulative impacts...

Climate change has been described as the biggest global health threat of the 21(st) century. World population is projected to reach 9.1 billion by 2050, with most of this growth in developing countries. While the principal cause of climate change is high consumption in the developed countries, its impact will be greatest on people in the developing world. Climate change and population can be li...

Many proximate causes of global amphibian declines have been well documented, but the role that climate change has played and will play in this crisis remains ambiguous for many species. Breeding phenology and disease outbreaks have been associated with warming temperatures, but, to date, few studies have evaluated effects of climate change on individual vital rates and subsequent population dy...

Temperature is increasing in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions at a higher rate than anywhere else in the world. The frequency and nature of precipitation events are also predicted to change in the future. These changes in climate are expected, together with increasing human pressures, to have significant impacts on Arctic and sub-Arctic species and ecosystems. Due to the key role that reindeer pla...

Smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are not only dealing with decreased production from land degradation, but are also impacted heavily by climate variability. Farmers perceive decreased rainfall or shortened rainy seasons throughout SSA; however, the link between perceptions and climate variability is complex, especially in areas with increasing land degradation. Moreover, little i...

Nature GeNetics aDVaNCE ONLINE PUBLICaTION The panda lineage dates back to the late Miocene and ultimately leads to only one extant species, the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). Although global climate change and anthropogenic disturbances are recognized to shape animal population demography2,3 their contribution to panda population dynamics remains largely unknown. We sequenced the whole ...

For an understanding of the effect of climate change on animal population dynamics, it is crucial to be able to identify which climatologic parameters affect which demographic rate, and what the underlying mechanistic links are. An important reason for why the interactions between demography and climate still are poorly understood is that the effects of climate vary both geographically and taxo...