Despite the claims of a few grandstanders, it's clear that our planet's thermostat is dialing up. Some plants and animals have already responded to this change by modifying their distributions away from the Equator, towards the cooler poles, and by shifting the timing of their breeding or flowering cycles. But beyond their location and behaviours, the physical stature of some organisms is also affected by climate change — which could play havoc with ecosystems and even global food security.The more we can predict and prepare for such changes, the better we will be able to mitigate their effects, argue Jennifer Sheridan of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and David Bickford of the National University of Singapore. In a Perspective published today in Nature Climate Change, the conservation biologists outline the evidence for past and present downsizing of organisms in response to warming environments and how these changes could affect ecosystems as well as human health.
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