Microclimate shifts in a dynamic world

Disparate rates of micro- and macroclimate warming forge future biodiversity and ecosystems Changes in ecological functioning and biodiversity have accelerated in concert with climate warming ( 1 ). However, scientists base their knowledge of climate effects largely on temperature data measured in meteorological stations, which record free-air temperature (macroclimate) in controlled circumstances at more than a meter above short grassland. On page 772 of this issue, Zellweger et al. ( 2 ) use modeled understory microclimate dynamics to show that macroclimate changes do not always drive the ecology of Earth's biodiversity.