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Does the terrestrial biosphere have planetary tipping points?

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-18, 06:42 authored by Barry BrookBarry Brook, Ellis, EC, Perring, MP, Mackay, AW, Blomqvist, L
Tipping points – where systems shift radically and potentially irreversibly into a different state – have received considerable attention in ecology. Although there is convincing evidence that human drivers can cause regime shifts at local and regional scales, the increasingly invoked concept of planetary scale tipping points in the terrestrial biosphere remains unconfirmed. By evaluating potential mechanisms and drivers, we conclude that spatial heterogeneity in drivers and responses, and lack of strong continental interconnectivity, probably induce relatively smooth changes at the global scale, without an expectation of marked tipping patterns. This implies that identifying critical points along global continua of drivers might be unfeasible and that characterizing global biotic change with single aggregates is inapt.

History

Publication title

Trends in Ecology and Evolution

Volume

28

Issue

7

Pagination

396-401

ISSN

0169-5347

Department/School

School of Natural Sciences

Publisher

Elsevier Science London

Place of publication

84 Theobalds Rd, London, England, Wc1X 8Rr

Rights statement

Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Repository Status

  • Restricted

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