Thomas E. Lovejoy - Biodiversity and Climate Change: Transforming the Biosphere

Praise for Biodiversity and Climate Change: Transforming the Biosphere

The evidence assembled in Biodiversity and Climate Change leaps out at us like a scene from a 3-D movie. Its warning uscompelling usto act. Nowhere is the science clearer or the facts more compelling than in this meticulously researched volume. When conservationists and scientists of Lovejoys and Hannahs caliber warn that if we dont press forward faster, well see greater species extinction, more ocean acidification, more biodiversity loss, more strains on agriculture and fishinglet me tell you: we need to listen. This book isnt just a call to heed the science; its a call to citizens everywhere to live up to their responsibilities and protect this fragile planet we share.

John Kerry, United States Secretary of State, 20132017

Mankinds heedless extraction and pollution of our planets resources is tearing apart the web of natural systems that has sustained our species throughout the long course of human development. Tom Lovejoy and Lee Hannah have assembled a book that chronicles these emerging ecological and climatic disasters yet gives hope that we can still help Earths systems heal and blunt the suffering of coming generations.

Sheldon Whitehouse, United States Senator for Rhode Island

Biodiversity and Climate Change: Transforming the Biosphere serves as a comprehensive account of this greatest of threats to humanitys future. It will serve both as a textbook and a call to action.

From the Foreword by Edward O. Wilson

An authoritative analysis of the increasing speed and scale of climate-change impacts on our biodiversity, together with an illuminating set of specific ways to use our biodiversity to address climate change. A powerful coupling.

Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 20102016

In Biodiversity and Climate Change, the renowned Tom Lovejoy and Lee Hannah blend leading voices to form a clear case for climate action, highlighting a powerful though underutilized natural defense: ecosystem restoration.

Henry M. Paulson Jr., Chairman of Paulson Institute, and United States Secretary of the Treasury, 20062009

Biodiversity and Climate Change lays out the latest science on the central challenges of our time. It is clear, comprehensive, and utterly compellingan essential addition to the literature.

Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

Weve all heard the clanging alarms about climate change. This book is an extraordinary scientific portrait, expert, multifaceted, and up-to-date, of how those changes are affecting biological diversityupon which we humans depend, of which we are part. Dont send to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for us.

David Quammen, author of The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life

Lovejoy and Hannah generate a compelling story of the species extinctions that will accompany ongoing, rapid changes in Earths climate, coupled with the unrelenting pressure of human population growth.

William H. Schlesinger, President Emeritus of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies

As the global community prepares a post-2020 Global Deal for Nature, this book reminds us of the importance of ecosystems and nature-based solutions to advance the Paris Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the 2050 Biodiversity Vision.

Dr. Cristiana Paca Palmer, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity

Come explore this comprehensive and insightful synthesis that underscores the intimately interconnected nature of biodiversity and climate changeits past, present, and future.

Jane Lubchenco, Oregon State University

Escape to Mars is not a realistic option for any species. Lovejoy and Hannahs assessments will help us chart a feasible pathway to preservation of our remarkable world.

James Hansen, Columbia University Earth Institute

Biodiversity and Climate Change

Biodiversity and Climate Change

Transforming the Biosphere

EDITED BY THOMAS E. LOVEJOY & LEE HANNAH

FOREWORD BY EDWARD O. WILSON

Yale UNIVERSITY PRESS

NEW HAVEN & LONDON

Published with assistance from Gordon and Betty Moore, Conservation International, and with assistance from the foundation established in memory of Calvin Chapin of the Class of 1788, Yale College.

Copyright 2019 by Yale University.

All rights reserved.

This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Yale University Press books may be purchased in quantity for educational, business, or promotional use. For information, please e-mail (U.K. office).

Set in Joanna type by Newgen.

Printed in the United States of America.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018954278

ISBN 978-0-300-20611-1 (paperback : alk. paper)

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Betsy, Kata, Annie, Tia, and Jayand the generations to come

Contents

EDWARD O. WILSON

THOMAS E. LOVEJOY AND LEE HANNAH

MICHAEL C. MACCRACKEN

CAMILLE PARMESAN

LEE W. COOPER

ERIC POST AND MICHAEL AVERY

OVE HOEGH-GULDBERG

BRETT R. RIDDLE

DONALD J. NOAKES

DAVID D. BRESHEARS, JASON P. FIELD, DARIN J. LAW, JUAN C. VILLEGAS, CRAIG D. ALLEN, NEIL S. COBB, AND JOHN B. BRADFORD

GRANT BALLARD AND DAVID AINLEY

JEFFREY PARK

RICDHAR B. ARONSON

CLINE BELLARD, CAMILLE LECLERC, AND FRANCK COURCHAMP

JOHN W. WILLIAMS AND KEVIN D. BURKE

MARK B. BUSH

PABLO IMBACH, PEP SERRA-DIAZ, LEE HANNAH, EMILY FUNG, AND ELIZABETH H. T. HIROYASU

WILLIAM W. L. CHEUNG AND MIRANDA C. JONES

JOSHUA J. LAWLER

JOAN A. KLEYPAS

JAMES E. M. WATSON, DANIEL B. SEGAN, AND JOSHUA TEWKSBURY

DANIEL NEPSTAD

LAUREN B. BUCKLEY AND JANNEKE HILLERISLAMBERS

ANTOINE A. GUISAN, OLIVIER BROENNIMANN, ALINE BURI, CARMEN CIANFRANI, MANUELA DAMEN, VALERIA DI COLA, RUI FERNANDES, SARAH M. GRAY, RUBN G. MATEO, ERIC PINTO, JEAN-NICOLAS PRADERVAND, DANIEL SCHERRER, PASCAL VITTOZ, I SALINE VON DNIKEN, AND ERIKA YASHIRO

DAVID INOUYE

LES KAUFMAN

LAUREN JARVIS, KEVIN MCCANN, AND MARY OCONNOR

JASON R. HARTOG AND ALISTAIR J. HOBDAY

ELIZABETH H. T. HIROYASU AND JESSIC A J. HELLMANN

LINDSAY P. CAMPBELL, A. TOWNSEND PETERSON, ABDALLAH M. SAMY, AND CARLOS YAEZ-ARENAS

PABLO A. MARQUET, JANETH LESSMANN, AND M. REBECCA SHAW

GUY MIDGLEY AND LEE HANNAH

CAITLIN LITTLEFIELD, ERIK NELSON, BENJAM IN J. DITTBRENNER, JOHN WITHEY, KATIE K. ARKEMA, AND JOSHUA J. LAWLER

MONIKA BERTZKY, REBECCA C. BROCK, LERA MILES, AND VALERIE KAPOS

ANDREW GONZALEZ, CECILE ALBERT, BRONWYN RAYFIELD, AND MARIA DUMITRU

THOMAS E. LOVEJOY

OSWALD J. SCHMITZ

EDWARD MAIBACH

CARY FOWLER AND OLA TVEITEREID WESTENGEN

G. DAVID TILMAN, NIKO HARTLINE, AND MICHAEL A. CLARK

Foreword

EDWARD O. WILSON

Biodiversity and Climate Change: Transforming the Biosphere is the definitive statement composed by a large percentage of the leading scientific experts on the most urgent global problem short of the destruction of Earth by a planet-sized asteroid. A remark cited in Biodiversity and Climate Change states the issue cogently: if nothing is done about climate change, you can forget about biodiversity