Winter is coming: Interactions of multiple stressors in winter and implications for natural world

A couple of months ago we saw our new paper, lead by Dr. Khuong Van Dinh and myself (shared autorship) published on Global Change Biology. The paper, titled: Winter is coming: Interactions of multiple stressors in winter and implications for the natural world explores the importance of winter in the context of #multiplestressors. The link to the paper is the following: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.16956

In this opinion paper we gave plenty of examples on how winter and multiple anthropogenic stressors can interact and induce changes in organisms, community and ecosystems.

Here, we present a framework aimed at comprehending the distinct impacts of anthropogenic stressors during winter as opposed to other seasons. We explore the primary mechanisms influencing ecological responses in organisms, including microbes, animals, and plants. For instance, certain anthropogenic stressors may exhibit greater intensity in winter than in other seasons, such as certain pollutants, while others may alleviate natural winter stress, like warmer temperatures. These variations can lead to immediate, delayed, or carry-over effects on organisms during winter or subsequent seasons.

Our proposed research direction advocates a renewed focus on understanding the effects of multiple stressors on winter ecology and evolution. This approach is essential for a comprehensive understanding of how ecosystems will respond to changing winters and enables better predictions. We also underlined the necessity of incorporating the interactions between anthropogenic stressors and winter into ecological risk assessments, management strategies, and conservation efforts.

Our paper received a commentary, "Winter, the forgotten season" which it is possible to find here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.17085

Arctic copepods, Calanus spp., which I have photographed during my expedition to the Arctic