Signs of climate change in Nordic nature

• Main Authors: Mikkelsen, Maria, Jensen, Trine Susanne, Normander, Bo, Løbersli, Else, Grandin, Ulf, Inghe, Ola, Jaremalm, Maria, Auvinen, Ari-Pekka, Elmarsdottir, Asrun, Thaulow, Inge, Debes, Høgni, Svart, Hans Erik
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: Nordic Council of Ministers 2009
• Subjects: indicator; factsheet; biogeographical zones; palsa
• Online Access: https://pure.au.dk/portal/en/publications/27bf9330-f92b-11de-9c17-000ea68e967b

Not only is the Earth's climate changing, our natural world is also being affected by the impact of rising temperatures and changes in climatic conditions. In order to track climate-related changes in Nordic ecosystems, we have identified a number of climate change sensitive indicators. We present a catalogue of 14 indicator-based signs that demonstrate the impact of climate change on terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems in the different bio-geographical zones of the Nordic region. The indicators have been identified using a systematic and quality, criteria based approach to discern and select the most relevant indicators. It is important to stress that by selecting a set of indicators rather than individual indicators, it is then possible to evaluate more general trends and not solely separate developments. The amount and quality of data vary between the selected indicators; monitoring data on population size and range of the polar bear, for example, are scarce, whereas data on the pollen season are extensive. Each indicator is evaluated using a number of quality criteria, including sensitivity to climate change, policy relevance and methodology. Although the indicator framework presented here has been developed to describe climate change indicators in the Nordic region, the approach may be applicable to other regions as well. In the project, we show that climate change is not only affecting a few individual species or habitats in the Nordic region, but that instead a number of changes are occurring concurrently and on multiple scales. Important signs of climate change include: pollen and growing seasons beginning earlier; fish stocks shifting northwards; bird populations adapting to a changing climate; sensitive natural phenomena such as palsa mires declining in distribution; and polar bears being threatened by ever earlier ice-breakup.