Ecosystems worldwide are experiencing unprecedented conditions due to human activities, demanding new strategies to protect biodiversity.
In our new paper, out now in Nature Ecology and Evolution, we show that highly novel conditions are present across almost two thirds of the worlds surface.
We mapped a combination of human activities, climate change, alien plant introductions, and historic mammal extinctions, finding that all climate zones and biomes are experiencing unprecedented ecological novelty.
Crucially, we find unprecedented conditions even in remote and protected areas. This means that many approaches to conserving nature may no longer work in the face of such novelty.
By pinpointing the main forces behind these shifts we can develop better strategies to manage our shared environment.
Read the article here:
Widespread ecological novelty across the terrestrial biosphere | Nature Ecology & Evolution