Skip to main content
  • Book
  • © 2021

Ecosystem Collapse and Climate Change

  • Documents cases of ecosystem collapse around the world
  • Raises awareness of the transitions that are already occurring through climate change today
  • Will help scientists and managers to restore degraded ecosystems and their species and ecosystem functioning

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies (ECOLSTUD, volume 241)

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.

Table of contents (14 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-viii
  2. Ecosystem Collapse and Climate Change: An Introduction

    • Josep G. Canadell, Robert B. Jackson
    Pages 1-9
  3. Impact of Marine Heatwaves on Seagrass Ecosystems

    • Oscar Serrano, Ariane Arias-Ortiz, Carlos M. Duarte, Gary A. Kendrick, Paul S. Lavery
    Pages 345-364
  4. Correction to: Ecosystem Collapse on a Sub-Antarctic Island

    • Dana M. Bergstrom, Catherine R. Dickson, David J. Baker, Jennie Whinam, Patricia M. Selkirk, Melodie A. McGeoch
    Pages C1-C1
  5. Polar and Boreal Ecosystems

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 11-11
    2. Ecosystem Collapse on a Sub-Antarctic Island

      • Dana M. Bergstrom, Catherine R. Dickson, David J. Baker, Jennie Whinam, Patricia M. Selkirk, Melodie A. McGeoch
      Pages 13-25
    3. Permafrost Thaw in Northern Peatlands: Rapid Changes in Ecosystem and Landscape Functions

      • David Olefeldt, Liam Heffernan, Miriam C. Jones, A. Britta K. Sannel, Claire C. Treat, Merritt R. Turetsky
      Pages 27-67
    4. Post-fire Recruitment Failure as a Driver of Forest to Non-forest Ecosystem Shifts in Boreal Regions

      • Arden Burrell, Elena Kukavskaya, Robert Baxter, Qiaoqi Sun, Kirsten Barrett
      Pages 69-100
  6. Temperate and Semi-arid Ecosystems

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 131-131
    2. The 2016 Tasmanian Wilderness Fires: Fire Regime Shifts and Climate Change in a Gondwanan Biogeographic Refugium

      • David M. J. S. Bowman, Dario Rodriguez-Cubillo, Lynda D. Prior
      Pages 133-153
    3. Climate-Induced Global Forest Shifts due to Heatwave-Drought

      • Francisco Lloret, Enric Batllori
      Pages 155-186
    4. Extreme Events Trigger Terrestrial and Marine Ecosystem Collapses in the Southwestern USA and Southwestern Australia

      • Katinka X. Ruthrof, Joseph B. Fontaine, David D. Breshears, Jason P. Field, Craig D. Allen
      Pages 187-217
  7. Tropical and Temperate Coastal Ecosystems

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 219-219
    2. Recurrent Mass-Bleaching and the Potential for Ecosystem Collapse on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef

      • Morgan S. Pratchett, Scott F. Heron, Camille Mellin, Graeme S. Cumming
      Pages 265-289
    3. Sliding Toward the Collapse of Mediterranean Coastal Marine Rocky Ecosystems

      • Joaquim Garrabou, Jean-Baptiste Ledoux, Nathaniel Bensoussan, Daniel Gómez-Gras, Cristina Linares
      Pages 291-324
  8. Back Matter

    Pages 365-366

About this book

Human-driven greenhouse emissions are increasing the velocity of climate change and the frequency and intensity of climate extremes far above historical levels. These changes, along with other human-perturbations, are setting the conditions for more rapid and abrupt ecosystem dynamics and collapse.

This book presents new evidence on the rapid emergence of ecosystem collapse in response to the progression of anthropogenic climate change dynamics that are expected to intensify as the climate continues to warm. Discussing implications for biodiversity conservation, the chapters provide examples of such dynamics globally covering polar and boreal ecosystems, temperate and semi-arid ecosystems, as well as tropical and temperate coastal ecosystems.

Given its scope, the volume appeals to scientists in the fields of general ecology, terrestrial and coastal ecology, climate change impacts, and biodiversity conservation.

Editors and Affiliations

  • CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Canberra, Australia

    Josep G. Canadell

  • Stanford University, Stanford, USA

    Robert B. Jackson

About the editors

Josep G. Canadell is a chief research scientist at the Climate Science Centre of the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, and the executive director of the Global Carbon Project, a global network of scientists that studies and integrates knowledge of greenhouses gases for human activities and the Earth System.

Rob Jackson is the Douglas Provostial Professor in Stanford’s Department of Earth System Science and Chair of the Global Carbon Project. Both scientists have spent decades documenting greenhouse gas emissions and how ecosystems are changing in response to climate and an altered atmosphere and environment.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access