Interacting Effects of Climate and Land Use on Biodiversity: A Guide to What They Are and Why They Matter

ABSTRACT Problem Climate and land‐use change are two key drivers of biodiversity change. Their widespread effects on species and communities have prompted fears that interactions between the two drivers could cause severe biodiversity loss. As the literature on this subject expands rapidly, variation in methodological choices and the terminology used to describe results, combined with context‐dependent or individualistic responses across taxa and systems, hinders our ability to systematically evaluate how species and communities are affected by the interacting effects of climate and land‐use change. Clarification We provide guidance for investigating climate‐land‐use interactions, following clear definitions and including recent examples from natural and semi‐natural systems. We highlight how variation in methodologies, language inconsistencies, data limitations, and the inherent variation among populations and species can affect the analysis of climate‐land‐use interactions. Importantly, we demonstrate how failing to consider interactive effects can negatively impact the outcomes of conservation interventions designed to protect biodiversity. Communicating Climate‐Land‐Use Interactions We provide a roadmap to guide future work, highlighting important considerations for understanding and communicating climate‐land‐use interactions relevant for both policy and conservation. Outlining how different factors can complicate our understanding of interactive effects is a key step towards the accurate detection, interpretation and communication of the effects of climate and land‐use change on biodiversity in a rapidly‐changing world.