Volume 14, Issue 5
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Climate change threatens European conservation areas

Miguel B. Araújo

Corresponding Author

Department of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, National Museum of Natural Sciences, CSIC, 28006, Madrid, Spain

Rui Nabeiro Biodiversity Chair, CIBIO, University of Évora, Largo dos Colegiais, 7000 Évora, Portugal

These authors contributed equally to this work.

E‐mail: maraujo@mncn.csic.esSearch for more papers by this author
Diogo Alagador

Department of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, National Museum of Natural Sciences, CSIC, 28006, Madrid, Spain

Forest Research Centre, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Technical University of Lisbon, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349‐017 Lisbon, Portugal

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Mar Cabeza

Department of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, National Museum of Natural Sciences, CSIC, 28006, Madrid, Spain

Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Viikinkaari 1, 00014, Finland

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David Nogués‐Bravo

Department of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, National Museum of Natural Sciences, CSIC, 28006, Madrid, Spain

Centre for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, 2100, Denmark

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Wilfried Thuiller

Laboratoire d’Ecologie Alpine, UMR‐CNRS 5553, Université J. Fourier, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France

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First published: 30 March 2011
Citations: 423

Re‐use of this article is permitted in accordance with the Terms and Conditions set out at http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/onlineopen#OnlineOpen_Terms

Abstract

Ecology Letters (2011) 14: 484–492

Abstract

Europe has the world’s most extensive network of conservation areas. Conservation areas are selected without taking into account the effects of climate change. How effectively would such areas conserve biodiversity under climate change? We assess the effectiveness of protected areas and the Natura 2000 network in conserving a large proportion of European plant and terrestrial vertebrate species under climate change. We found that by 2080, 58 ± 2.6% of the species would lose suitable climate in protected areas, whereas losses affected 63 ± 2.1% of the species of European concern occurring in Natura 2000 areas. Protected areas are expected to retain climatic suitability for species better than unprotected areas (P <0.001), but Natura 2000 areas retain climate suitability for species no better and sometimes less effectively than unprotected areas. The risk is high that ongoing efforts to conserve Europe’s biodiversity are jeopardized by climate change. New policies are required to avert this risk.

Number of times cited according to CrossRef: 423

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