Students’ conceptions of climate change impacts on natural ecosystems

Climate change, driven by human activity, is a major societal issue with significant biological consequences. The purpose of this study is to investigate students’ understanding of the biological impacts of climate change on natural ecosystems. We applied a qualitative approach using open-ended questions in two ecological contexts: a temperate forest and high Arctic ecosystems. Responses from high school and undergraduate students were analysed using qualitative content analysis, focusing on different levels of biological organisation. Our findings indicate that students predominantly focus on observable effects at the individual level, while interactions between species and long-term, systemic consequences are mentioned less frequently. References to species-level impacts are largely limited to extinction, with little consideration of broader evolutionary processes. These results suggest that students’ understanding of climate change impacts remains focused on immediate and visible effects, with less awareness of complex ecological and evolutionary dynamics. The implications for teaching and learning are that instruction should more explicitly support students in connecting individual-level effects to broader ecological interactions and long-term biological processes.