Brook, BW;
Ellis, EC;
Perring, MP;
Mackay, AW;
Blomqvist, L;
(2013)
Does the terrestrial biosphere have planetary tipping points?
Trends in Ecology & Evolution
, 28
(7)
pp. 396-401.
10.1016/j.tree.2013.01.016.
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Abstract
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.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Does the terrestrial biosphere have planetary tipping points? |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.tree.2013.01.016 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2013.01.016 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2013. This manuscript version is published under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Non-derivative 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). This licence allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work for personal and non-commercial use providing author and publisher attribution is clearly stated. Further details about CC BY licences are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0. Access may be initially restricted by the publisher. |
| Keywords: | science & technology, life sciences & biomedicine, ecology, evolutionary biology, genetics & heredity, environmental sciences & ecology, ecology, evolutionary biology, genetics & heredity, alternative stable states, safe operating space, regime shifts, ecological thresholds, habitat fragmentation, climate-change, anthropogenic transformation, ecosystem responses, biodiversity loss, global change |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Geography |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1405338 |
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