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Climate change is now causing more local extinction in temperate regions than the tropics, surprising study shows
https://news.arizona.edu/news/climate-change-now-causing-more-local-extinction-temperate-regions-tropics-surprising-studyBy Kylianne Chadwick, University Communications
Thursday
Imagine returning to a favorite hiking trail 15 years after your first visit and discovering that many of the plants and animals that once lived there are gone. While these species may still exist elsewhere, these disappearances – known as local extinctions – are among the clearest signs that climate change is already transforming ecosystems and threatening species across the globe.
University of Arizona researchers compared local extinctions from recent climate change among more than 5,100 plant and animal species from around the world, including hundreds of species of moths and beetles, hundreds of fishes and birds, many mammals, frogs, salamanders, and lizards, and almost 3,000 species of plants.
In the study published in Nature Climate Change, the researchers found that 49% of temperate species experienced local extinction at the hottest parts of their ranges, compared with only 33% of tropical species.
The research drew on repeated biodiversity surveys from nearly 40,000 sites worldwide, allowing them to compare historical records with resurveys conducted years or decades later, making it the largest analysis of climate-driven local extinctions conducted to date.
…
Murali, G., Karger, D.N. & Wiens, J.J. Temperate local extinctions from climate change are outpacing tropical extinctions. Nat. Clim. Chang. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-026-02669-yThursday
Imagine returning to a favorite hiking trail 15 years after your first visit and discovering that many of the plants and animals that once lived there are gone. While these species may still exist elsewhere, these disappearances – known as local extinctions – are among the clearest signs that climate change is already transforming ecosystems and threatening species across the globe.
University of Arizona researchers compared local extinctions from recent climate change among more than 5,100 plant and animal species from around the world, including hundreds of species of moths and beetles, hundreds of fishes and birds, many mammals, frogs, salamanders, and lizards, and almost 3,000 species of plants.
In the study published in Nature Climate Change, the researchers found that 49% of temperate species experienced local extinction at the hottest parts of their ranges, compared with only 33% of tropical species.
The research drew on repeated biodiversity surveys from nearly 40,000 sites worldwide, allowing them to compare historical records with resurveys conducted years or decades later, making it the largest analysis of climate-driven local extinctions conducted to date.
…