Climate Change Experienced by Life on Earth—Drivers and Mechanisms of Future Trends in Microclimates
30 affiliations
- 1Department of Physical Geography and Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
- 2Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden.
- 3CNRS, Chrono-Environnement (UMR 6249), Université Marie et Louis Pasteur, Besançon, France.
- 4Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, UK.
- 5Centre for Ecology and Evolution, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, UK.
- 6German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
- 7Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.
- 8CNRS, EPHE, IRD, CEFE, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
- 9Ecology and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
- 10Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
- 11Botany and Mycology Unit, Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
- 12Department of Organismal and Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
- 13Climate Impacts and Adaptation, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland.
- 14Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
- 15Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
- 16Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen K, Denmark.
- 17Forest & Nature Lab, Gontrode, Belgium.
- 18Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
- 19KU Leuven Plant Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
- 20School of the Environment, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
- 21Department of Ecology, Evolution, & Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.
- 22Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Průhonice, Czech Republic.
- 23Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Praha-Suchdol, Czech Republic.
- 24UMR CNRS 7058 "Ecologie et Dynamique des Systèmes Anthropisés" (EDYSAN), Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France.
- 25Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
- 26UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, UK.
- 27Rossby Centre, Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI), Norrköping, Sweden.
- 28Department of Thematic Studies-Environmental Change, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
- 29Department of Ecosystem Management, Climate and Biodiversity, Institute of Botany, BOKU University, Vienna, Austria.
- 30Plants and Ecosystems (PLECO), Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium.
Abstract
Microclimate, the climate directly experienced by organisms, is crucial for understanding ecological responses to climate change, yet its long-term dynamics and the drivers of decadal microclimate changes remain underexplored in ecology and global change biology. Microclimate changes do not necessarily track macroclimate trends. Changes in meteorological conditions (e.g., cloud cover, wind patterns) and vegetation dynamics (e.g., canopy opening, desertification in drylands, shrub encroachment in the tundra) associated with climate change can lead to locally divergent microclimate trends, thereby altering spatial variability. Understanding and quantifying how macroclimate change translates to fine-scale microclimate change experienced by organisms, populations and communities is therefore essential for predicting ecological responses to global environmental change. This review examines how macroclimate change drives microclimate changes as experienced by life on Earth-and how these micro-scale changes may, in turn, feed back into the regional and global climate system. Our primary focus is on near-surface air and soil temperature-due to their relevance to most terrestrial organisms and ecosystem processes. The review is structured around three pathways of microclimate changes: (I) direct effects of changes in meteorological conditions, (II) indirect effects via vegetation changes, and (III) feedbacks between microclimate and climate change. Using three mechanistic model simulations in real-world landscapes, we illustrate and quantify the key mechanisms that lead to divergent warming trends. We show that microclimate change emerges from interacting atmospheric, land-surface, and biophysical processes, which can differ substantially across space and time. Predicting future microclimates therefore requires accounting for these processes and their temporal dynamics. By providing an accessible synthesis of these processes, this review aims to strengthen links between ecology and atmospheric science and improve our understanding of how climate change translates into microclimatic conditions relevant to life on Earth.
Related
- Climate change and internal migration nexus in Ethiopia a narrative review of drivers, patterns, and policy responses from 2000 to 2025
- Integrative analysis of climate change drivers using ISM DEMATEL approach for structural decision making
- Climate Change Finance and Carbon Offsets: Addressing Global Climate Challenges through Innovative Funding and Emissions Reduction Mechanisms
- Associations between hurricane stressors, social capital, and climate anxiety among individuals who experienced Hurricanes Helene and Milton
- Land Use Change, Spillovers, and Transitions: Global Trends, Prospects, and Emerging Drivers
BibTeX
@article{greiser2026climate,
title = {{Climate Change Experienced by Life on Earth—Drivers and Mechanisms of Future Trends in Microclimates}},
author = {C Greiser and E Gril and I M D Maclean and R Beugnon and P le Roux and J Kemppinen and M W Rhodes and J Aalto and D M Christiansen and P De Frenne and S Haesen and D Klinges and M Kopecký and J Lenoir and M Luoto and L M Mercado and M Rantanen and G Strandberg and L van den Brink and J Lembrechts and K Van Meerbeek},
journal = {Global Change Biology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1111/gcb.71140},
url = {https://u-picardie.hal.science/hal-05845317v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Climate Change Experienced by Life on Earth—Drivers and Mechanisms of Future Trends in Microclimates
AU - C Greiser
AU - E Gril
AU - I M D Maclean
AU - R Beugnon
AU - P le Roux
AU - J Kemppinen
AU - M W Rhodes
AU - J Aalto
AU - D M Christiansen
AU - P De Frenne
AU - S Haesen
AU - D Klinges
AU - M Kopecký
AU - J Lenoir
AU - M Luoto
AU - L M Mercado
AU - M Rantanen
AU - G Strandberg
AU - L van den Brink
AU - J Lembrechts
AU - K Van Meerbeek
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Global Change Biology
DO - 10.1111/gcb.71140
UR - https://u-picardie.hal.science/hal-05845317v1
AB - Microclimate, the climate directly experienced by organisms, is crucial for understanding ecological responses to climate change, yet its long-term dynamics and the drivers of decadal microclimate changes remain underexplored in ecology and global change biology. Microclimate changes do not necessarily track macroclimate trends. Changes in meteorological conditions (e.g., cloud cover, wind patterns) and vegetation dynamics (e.g., canopy opening, desertification in drylands, shrub encroachment in the tundra) associated with climate change can lead to locally divergent microclimate trends, thereby altering spatial variability. Understanding and quantifying how macroclimate change translates to fine-scale microclimate change experienced by organisms, populations and communities is therefore essential for predicting ecological responses to global environmental change. This review examines how macroclimate change drives microclimate changes as experienced by life on Earth-and how these micro-scale changes may, in turn, feed back into the regional and global climate system. Our primary focus is on near-surface air and soil temperature-due to their relevance to most terrestrial organisms and ecosystem processes. The review is structured around three pathways of microclimate changes: (I) direct effects of changes in meteorological conditions, (II) indirect effects via vegetation changes, and (III) feedbacks between microclimate and climate change. Using three mechanistic model simulations in real-world landscapes, we illustrate and quantify the key mechanisms that lead to divergent warming trends. We show that microclimate change emerges from interacting atmospheric, land-surface, and biophysical processes, which can differ substantially across space and time. Predicting future microclimates therefore requires accounting for these processes and their temporal dynamics. By providing an accessible synthesis of these processes, this review aims to strengthen links between ecology and atmospheric science and improve our understanding of how climate change translates into microclimatic conditions relevant to life on Earth.
SN - 1354-1013
SN - 1365-2486
ER -