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Biodiversity loss and climate extremes — study the feedbacks

Enough of silos: develop a joint scientific agenda to understand the intertwined global crises of the Earth system.
By
  1. Miguel D. Mahecha

    1. Miguel D. Mahecha is professor of modelling approaches in remote sensing at the Remote Sensing Centre for Earth System Research of Leipzig University and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), and a member of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Germany.

  2. Ana Bastos

    1. Ana Bastos is a group leader at the Department of Biogeochemical Integration of the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany.

  3. Friedrich J. Bohn

    1. Friedrich J. Bohn is a postdoctoral scientist at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig, Germany.

  4. Nico Eisenhauer

    1. Nico Eisenhauer is professor of experimental interaction ecology at Leipzig University and research group leader at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Germany.

  5. Hannes Feilhauer

    1. Hannes Feilhauer is professor at the Remote Sensing Centre for Earth System Research of Leipzig University and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ).

  6. Henrik Hartmann

    1. Henrik Hartmann is director of the Institute for Forest Protection, Julius Kühn Institute Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Quedlinburg, Germany, and group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany.

  7. Thomas Hickler

    1. Thomas Hickler is professor of biogeography at the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F) and the Department of Physical Geography at Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

  8. Heike Kalesse-Los

    1. Heike Kalesse-Los is a junior professor of remote sensing of the atmosphere and the arctic climate system, Leipzig Institute for Meteorology (LIM), Leipzig University, Germany.

  9. Mirco Migliavacca

    1. Mirco Migliavacca is a scientific research project officer at the European Commission Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy.

  10. Friederike E. L. Otto

    1. Friederike E. L. Otto is a senior lecturer in climate science at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London, UK.

  11. Jian Peng

    1. Jian Peng is head of the department of remote sensing at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), and professor at the Remote Sensing Centre for Earth System Research of Leipzig University, Germany.

  12. Johannes Quaas

    1. Johannes Quaas is professor of theoretical meteorology at the Leipzig Institute for Meteorology, Leipzig University, and a member of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig.

  13. Ina Tegen

    1. Ina Tegen is head of the Modelling of Atmospheric Processes Department, TROPOS, Leipzig, and professor of atmospheric modelling at the Leipzig Institute for Meteorology (LIM), Leipzig University, Germany.

  14. Alexandra Weigelt

    1. Alexandra Weigelt is professor of botany and functional biodiversity at Leipzig University, and a member of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Germany.

  15. Manfred Wendisch

    1. Manfred Wendisch is professor of atmospheric radiation at the Leipzig Institute for Meteorology (LIM), Leipzig University, and director of LIM, Germany.

  16. Christian Wirth

    1. Christian Wirth is professor of systematic botany and functional biodiversity, Institute of Biology, Leipzig University; managing director of the Botanical Garden of Leipzig University; and speaker of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv); and is also affiliated with the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany.

An infrared photo of dead spruce trees standing and felled at Eifel National Park on June 2, 2022 in Schleiden, Germany.

Dead spruce trees in Schleiden, Germany, as seen at infrared wavelengths. Credit: Bernd Lauter/Getty

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As humans warm the planet, biodiversity is plummeting. These two global crises are connected in multiple ways. But the details of the intricate feedback loops between biodiversity decline and climate change are astonishingly under-studied.

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Nature 612, 30-32 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-04152-y

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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