Speaker: Dr. ALEX PIGOT, University College London

ABSTRACT:
Climate change is a major threat to human society and to the species and ecosystems on which we depend, with recent warming driving increasingly widespread declines of local populations, shifts in species geographic distributions and restructuring of ecological communities. In the absence of massive emission reductions to limit future warming, these impacts are set to escalate over the coming decades. But what will the consequences be for biodiversity? Will losses of biodiversity unfold gradually, or are there levels of warming beyond which populations, species, and ecosystems, will suddenly and simultaneously collapse across wide areas? If so, what abiotic and biotic features determine these thresholds? In this talk I will share some thoughts on these questions and discuss recent, ongoing, and future planned work in our lab to understand the risks of tipping points for biodiversity on a rapidly warming planet.

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