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Missing from current climate models are feedback mechanisms coupling climate and ecosystems. Insights into such feedback from analysis of past climate change, from ongoing climate manipulations in ecosystems, and from observations of ecosystems along climate gradients will be presented. We show that climate-ecosystem feedbacks are potentially large and positive, and thus future warming may be considerably more intense than is currently anticipated. Nevertheless, huge gaps exist in our ability to predict future ecosystem responses to global warming; filling them poses a daunting challenge to science.(click here for webcast) |
