Why extreme events matter for species redistribution
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Climate change is altering species’ distributions globally. Increasing frequency of extreme weather and climate events (EWCEs), including heat waves, droughts, storms, floods, and fires, is one of the hallmarks of climate change. These events can trigger rapid shifts in species’ distributions by impacting dispersal, establishment, and survival of organisms. Despite species redistribution being widely studied in response to longer-term trends of climate change, few studies consider the contribution of EWCEs to range shifts. With EWCEs impacting ecologically, economically, and culturally important species, we call for integrating EWCEs into the study of biodiversity redistribution. Advances in data availability and statistical methods are improving our capacity to understand and integrate these complex processes into adaptive conservation management efforts and biodiversity assessments.