IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0224625.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Recent climate-driven ecological change across a continent as perceived through local ecological knowledge

Author

Listed:
  • Suzanne M Prober
  • Nat Raisbeck-Brown
  • Natasha B Porter
  • Kristen J Williams
  • Zoe Leviston
  • Fiona Dickson

Abstract

Documenting effects of climate change is an important step towards designing mitigation and adaptation responses. Impacts of climate change on terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystems have been well-documented in the Northern Hemisphere, but long-term data to detect change in the Southern Hemisphere are limited, and some types of change are generally difficult to measure. Here we present a novel approach using local ecological knowledge to facilitate a continent-scale view of climate change impacts on terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystems that people have perceived in Australia. We sought local knowledge using a national web-based survey, targeting respondents with close links to the environment (e.g. farmers, ecologists), and using a custom-built mapping tool to ask respondents to describe and attribute recent changes they had observed within an area they knew well. Results drawn from 326 respondents showed that people are already perceiving simple and complex climate change impacts on hundreds of species and ecosystems across Australia, significantly extending the detail previously reported for the continent. While most perceived trends and attributions remain unsubstantiated, >35 reported anecdotes concurred with examples in the literature, and >20 were reported more than once. More generally, anecdotes were compatible with expectations from global climate change impact frameworks, including examples across the spectrum from organisms (e.g. increased mortality in >75 species), populations (e.g. changes in recruitment or abundance in >100 species, phenological change in >50 species), and species (e.g. >80 species newly arriving or disappearing), to communities and landscapes (e.g. >50 examples of altered ecological interactions). The overarching pattern indicated by the anecdotes suggests that people are more often noticing climate change losers (typically native species) than winners in their local areas, but with observations of potential ‘adaptation in action’ via compositional and phenological change and through arrivals and range shifts (particularly for native birds and exotic plants). A high proportion of climate change-related anecdotes also involved cumulative or interactive effects of land use. We conclude that targeted elicitation of local ecological knowledge about climate change impacts can provide a valuable complement to data-derived knowledge, substantially extending the volume of explicit examples and offering a foundation for further investigation.

Suggested Citation

  • Suzanne M Prober & Nat Raisbeck-Brown & Natasha B Porter & Kristen J Williams & Zoe Leviston & Fiona Dickson, 2019. "Recent climate-driven ecological change across a continent as perceived through local ecological knowledge," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(11), pages 1-30, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0224625
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0224625
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0224625
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0224625&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0224625?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. R. M. B. Harris & L. J. Beaumont & T. R. Vance & C. R. Tozer & T. A. Remenyi & S. E. Perkins-Kirkpatrick & P. J. Mitchell & A. B. Nicotra & S. McGregor & N. R. Andrew & M. Letnic & M. R. Kearney & T. , 2018. "Author Correction: Biological responses to the press and pulse of climate trends and extreme events," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(9), pages 840-840, September.
    2. R. M. B. Harris & L. J. Beaumont & T. R. Vance & C. R. Tozer & T. A. Remenyi & S. E. Perkins-Kirkpatrick & P. J. Mitchell & A. B. Nicotra & S. McGregor & N. R. Andrew & M. Letnic & M. R. Kearney & T. , 2018. "Biological responses to the press and pulse of climate trends and extreme events," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(7), pages 579-587, July.
    3. Ashlee Cunsolo & Neville R. Ellis, 2018. "Ecological grief as a mental health response to climate change-related loss," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(4), pages 275-281, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fabio de Oliveira Neves & Arlinda de Jesus Rodrigues Resende & Plinio Rodrigues dos Santos Filho & Breno Regis Santos, 2023. "Analysis of the Profile of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Brazil," Journal of Sustainable Development, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 16(4), pages 135-135, July.
    2. Adrian C. Newton, 2021. "Strengthening the Scientific Basis of Ecosystem Collapse Risk Assessments," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-15, November.
    3. Carlos Sanz-Lazaro, 2019. "A Framework to Advance the Understanding of the Ecological Effects of Extreme Climate Events," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-18, October.
    4. Liang, Chao & Xia, Zhenglan & Lai, Xiaodong & Wang, Lu, 2022. "Natural gas volatility prediction: Fresh evidence from extreme weather and extended GARCH-MIDAS-ES model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    5. Martín Bascopé & Kristina Reiss, 2021. "Place-Based STEM Education for Sustainability: A Path towards Socioecological Resilience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-16, July.
    6. Isobel Sharpe & Colleen M. Davison, 2022. "A Scoping Review of Climate Change, Climate-Related Disasters, and Mental Disorders among Children in Low- and Middle-Income Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-19, March.
    7. Rachel Clissold & Ellie Furlong & Karen E. McNamara & Ross Westoby & Anita Latai-Niusulu, 2023. "How Pacifika Arts Reveal Interconnected Losses for People and Place in a Changing Climate," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-19, April.
    8. Tanja M. Straka & Christian C. Voigt, 2022. "Threat Perception, Emotions and Social Trust of Global Bat Experts before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-17, September.
    9. Willian Sierra-Barón & Pablo Olivos-Jara & Andrés Gómez-Acosta & Oscar Navarro, 2023. "Environmental Identity, Connectedness with Nature, and Well-Being as Predictors of Pro-Environmental Behavior, and Their Comparison between Inhabitants of Rural and Urban Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-14, March.
    10. Susan L. Prescott & Alan C. Logan & David L. Katz, 2019. "Preventive Medicine for Person, Place, and Planet: Revisiting the Concept of High-Level Wellness in the Planetary Health Paradigm," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-15, January.
    11. Susan L. Prescott & Alan C. Logan & Glenn Albrecht & Dianne E. Campbell & Julian Crane & Ashlee Cunsolo & John W. Holloway & Anita L. Kozyrskyj & Christopher A. Lowry & John Penders & Nicole Redvers &, 2018. "The Canmore Declaration: Statement of Principles for Planetary Health," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-18, July.
    12. Naseem Dillman-Hasso, 2021. "The nature buffer: the missing link in climate change and mental health research," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 11(4), pages 696-701, December.
    13. Junqiao Ma & Wenfeng Zhou & Shili Guo & Xin Deng & Jiahao Song & Dingde Xu, 2022. "The influence of peer effects on farmers’ response to climate change: evidence from Sichuan Province, China," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 175(1), pages 1-23, November.
    14. Ma, Tianyi & Moore, Jane & Cleary, Anne, 2022. "Climate change impacts on the mental health and wellbeing of young people: A scoping review of risk and protective factors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    15. Gemma Hayward & Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson, 2021. "‘Seeing with Empty Eyes’: a systems approach to understand climate change and mental health in Bangladesh," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 165(1), pages 1-30, March.
    16. Susan L. Prescott & Alan C. Logan, 2019. "Narrative Medicine Meets Planetary Health: Mindsets Matter in the Anthropocene," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-26, February.
    17. Rachel Clissold & Karen E. McNamara & Ross Westoby, 2022. "Emotions of the Anthropocene across Oceania," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-16, June.
    18. Kelsey Timler & Dancing Water Sandy, 2020. "Gardening in Ashes: The Possibilities and Limitations of Gardening to Support Indigenous Health and Well-Being in the Context of Wildfires and Colonialism," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-24, May.
    19. Elgaaied-Gambier, Leila & Mandler, Timo, 2021. "Me trying to talk about sustainability: Exploring the psychological and social implications of environmental threats through user-generated content," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    20. Rory G. J. Fitzpatrick & Douglas J. Parker & John H. Marsham & David P. Rowell & Lawrence S. Jackson & Declan Finney & Chetan Deva & Simon Tucker & Rachael Stratton, 2020. "How a typical West African day in the future-climate compares with current-climate conditions in a convection-permitting and parameterised convection climate model," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 267-296, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0224625. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.