RangeX aims to explore the impacts of climate change on plant species expanding their ranges, particularly along elevation gradients in mountain ecosystems. The project focuses on understanding the processes driving range expansions, their effects on biodiversity, ecosystem services like carbon cycling and pollination, and how these species might contribute to or disrupt ecological balance. The project seeks to develop trait-based predictors for identifying “winners” and “losers” of climate change and inform policy with co-developed recommendations for managing range-expanding species.
Read more about the project here
IN THE COMIC >
In Tides of Change, Kaija and Sami use data gathered from RangeX to confirm that species in the Swedish mountain ranges are invasively expanding their territories as climate change affects the ecosystems they are living in.
Species are shifting their distributions in response to global warming and through biological invasions, many expanding their ranges across elevation gradients. But they are doing so at widely different rates, leading to a reassembly of ecological communities that could have even more profound impacts on the future of biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and nature’s benefits to people. To anticipate and respond to these challenges and opportunities, we require both a process-based understanding of range expansions, and a shared understanding of this issue between researchers, natural resource managers, and policy-makers.
