Weather packages: finding the right scale and composition of climate in ecology

• Published in: Journal of Animal Ecology
• Main Authors: STENSETH, NILS CHR., MYSTERUD, ATLE
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2005
• Subjects: Hallet; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2656.2005.01005.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1365-2656.2005.01005.x; https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-2656.2005.01005.x

Summary Animals are affected by local weather variables such as temperature, rainfall and snow. However, large‐scale climate indices such as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) often outperform local weather variables when it comes to explain climate‐related variation in life history traits or animal numbers. In a recent paper, Hallet et al . (2004 , Nature , 430 , 71–75) document convincingly why this may happen. In this perspective, we identify from the literature three mechanisms why this is so: (1) the time window; (2) the spatial window; and (3) the weather composition component of climate. Such an understanding may be used to derive even better ‘weather packages’ than the NAO.