Yvonne Buckley
Title: “Biodiversity in a warming world: how climate, climate action and land use shape biodiversity patterns”
Abstract: Climate is a critical determinant of the diversity and types of species of plants that can persist and human land use is the major driver of biodiversity change and loss. We have shown that the effects of land use are in fact equivalent to a biome-level differences in climate in terms of the life-forms of plants that occur and their abundance in ecosystems. We have developed models for how the traits of plants, together with the climate context, determine plant life-history. Actions that are being taken and being proposed to mitigate and adapt to climate change will drive land use change over the coming decades. Renewable energy installations, afforestation, reforestation, peatland restoration, deployment of nature-based solutions and changes in agricultural systems and practises all have implications for biodiversity, particularly as they could happen quickly and over large areas in the landscape. I will discuss the need to bring together an understanding of how climate and land use jointly determine plant diversity and population functioning to better project biodiversity impacts of climate change and the land use change resulting from climate mitigation and adaptation actions.
Bio: Professor Yvonne Buckley is an ecologist and the Professor of Zoology at Trinity College Dublin. She Co-Directs the >€41M Co-Centre for Climate + Biodiversity + Water which undertakes research across 14 institutions in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain. She is a member of the Climate Change Advisory Council (Ireland), a Member of the Royal Irish Academy and Academia Europaea. She was awarded Irish Research Council Researcher of the Year (2021), the British Ecological Society President’s medal (2021) and BES award (2022). Prof. Buckley has expertise in environmental decision making, conservation, natural capital management and population ecology. She leads a team of researchers and students seeking to understand the fundamental drivers of animal and plant population processes in a rapidly changing world. She uses these discoveries to provide support for environmental decisions in the areas of biodiversity conservation, invasive species management, climate change and habitat restoration. She was the founding President the Irish Ecological Association, served as chair of the National Biodiversity Forum, providing advice to government on biodiversity strategy, and is a co-Chair of the All Island Climate and Biodiversity Research Network. She is a monthly science columnist for the Irish Times and a Director of both Dublin Zoo and the National Biodiversity Data Centre.
Affiliation: Co-Centre for Climate, Biodiversity, Water, Trinity College Dublin
