Insight 4. Climate change and biodiversity loss amplify each other

By: , and 

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Abstract

Key messages:

• Climate change is impacting biodiversity from local to global scales, and growing evidence suggests that further loss of biodiversity can contribute to climate change, creating a destabilizing feedback. • Loss of plant diversity due to climate and land-use change can weaken ecosystem functioning, leading to a decrease in biomass accumulation and reduced carbon storage.

• Animal biodiversity, both terrestrial and marine, plays a key role in regulating carbon storage through trophic chains and other plant-animal interactions that can alter vegetation structure and composition, affecting biomass accumulation and carbon sequestration.

• Natural climate solution initiatives that integrate aspects of ecosystem integrity and species composition, rather than focusing solely on land cover area, can more effectively safeguard the carbon sink function.

Publication type Book chapter
Publication Subtype Book Chapter
Title Insight 4. Climate change and biodiversity loss amplify each other
Year Published 2025
Language English
Publisher Future Earth, The Earth League, World Climate Research Programme
Contributing office(s) National Climate Adaptation Science Center
Description 3 p.
Larger Work Type Book
Larger Work Subtype Monograph
Larger Work Title 10 New insights in climate science 2025/2026
First page 22
Last page 24
Additional publication details