Progress and gaps in ecological risk under climate change research: A bibliometric and literature review approach

In the past 20 years, the ecological risks arising from climate change have attracted increasing attention. Understanding its research progress and the evolution of hot topics is paramount. However, efficient, in-depth, and robust analysis of massive and complex unstructured literature is difficult. This study employs a novel approach integrating data mining, bibliometrics, and systematic review to analyze 9122 interdisciplinary publications from 2000 to 2023. Our findings reveal a consistent annual increase in publications, with a marked acceleration post-2015. The United States and China have emerged as leading contributors to this field. Over time, the theme has traversed three pivotal hotspots and over 100 hot words. We have summarized research progress from the early to late stages into nine aspects: (1) species and population responses; (2) ecosystem impacts; (3) social-ecological system risks; (4) land use/cover change interactions; (5) ecological processes; (6) ecosystem services; (7) sustainable development goals; (8) ecosystem conservation, management, and adaptation; and (9) ecological risk assessment and major models. Additionally, we summarized international policies and efforts to combat climate risks, research gaps, and potential directions for future progress: establish the unified and comparable regional risk assessment framework; strengthen research on ecological processes, multiple sources of pressure, and composite risks; enhance research on the space-time and flow of risks; establish high-precision basic datasets; and improve communication and cooperation among multiple stakeholders. This study provides a systematic and comprehensive review of climate change’s ecological risks, which may inspire researchers interested in this field.