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Difficult but not impossible

Nature Climate Change volume 1, page 72 (2011)Cite this article

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Parmesan and colleagues1 criticize a guidance paper that was produced following an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) expert meeting on detection and attribution2. This paper includes methods that seek to establish links between observed changes and external drivers of climate change, including greenhouse gases. Parmesan and co-authors argue that attempting to attribute ecological impacts to rising greenhouse gases is 'misguided' and instead propose concentrating on assessing the interacting roles of climate and other environmental factors, regardless of their underlying causes.

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References

  1. Parmesan, C., Duarte, C., Poloczanska, E., Richardson, A. J. & Singer, M. C. Nature Clim. Change 1, 2–4 (2011).

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  2. Hegerl, G. C. et al. in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Expert Meeting on Detection and Attribution Related to Anthropogenic Climate Change (eds Stocker, T. F. et al.) (IPCC Working Group I Technical Support Unit, 2010).

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  3. Stott, P., Stone, D. & Allen, M. Nature 432, 610–614 (2004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Global Change Institute, University of Queensland, St Lucia, 4072, Queensland, Australia

    Ove Hoegh-Guldberg

  2. Grant Institute, The King's Buildings, West Mains Road, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3JW, UK

    Gabi Hegerl

  3. Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, 473 Via Ortega, Stanford, 94305, California, USA

    Terry Root

  4. University of Victoria, PO Box 1700 Sta CSC, Victoria, V8W 2Y2, British Colombia, Canada

    Francis Zwiers

  5. Met Office Hadley Centre, FitzRoy Road, Exeter, EX1 3PB, UK

    Peter Stott

  6. Climate Research Division, Mail Stop 0224, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, 92092-0224, California, USA

    David Pierce

  7. School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK

    Myles Allen

Authors
  1. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg
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  2. Gabi Hegerl
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  3. Terry Root
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  4. Francis Zwiers
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  5. Peter Stott
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  6. David Pierce
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  7. Myles Allen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ove Hoegh-Guldberg.

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Hoegh-Guldberg, O., Hegerl, G., Root, T. et al. Difficult but not impossible. Nature Clim Change 1, 72 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1107

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