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Climate change is driving a rapid but highly variable redistribution of life on Earth, comparable in scale and magnitude to changes historically only seen over tens of thousands of years. Despite increased research effort, the complex mechanisms driving these changes in geographical distribution of species, or ‘range shifts’, remain only superficially understood. Attempts to understand the processes underpinning species responses are hampered by the paucity of comprehensive, longterm datasets, few theoretical frameworks, and lack of strategic direction and cross-fertilisation with related ecological fields. As an emerging, dynamic field, range shift ecology would benefit from integrating concepts and approaches from other related, more established areas of research, such as invasion ecology. Here, we use a systematic literature review and bibliographic analysis to assess the level of knowledge exchange between range shift ecology and invasion ecology. We found that while the two fields are inherently strongly related, the level of exchange and integration of ideas via citation networks does not reflect the closeness of the fields in terms of concepts, theories, and practice. Although range shift papers cite invasion papers more often than vice versa, the citation rate is generally quite low for both. These findings are evidence of the increasing need to move away from discipline-focused interpretation and communication of scientific results, towards greater research integration and connection between related ecological fields. Increased knowledge and data exchange between range shift and invasion fields could improve mechanistic understanding of range shifts and species invasions under climate change, enhance the predictive capacity of models and better inform management and conservation efforts.

Inclusion of dispersal data in models of species’ distributions in response to environmental change has been advocated for more than 15 years. We investigated whether there has been a shift in recent publications to include dispersal processes and how dispersal estimates explicitly change the conclusions of analyses. To address this question, we conducted a systemic review of the literature to assess what kinds of dispersal data and methods are being included in species distribution models across taxa. We collected metadata on 6,406 publications, 907 of which included dispersal data. The proportion of papers that included dispersal data in estimates of the species’ range increased from 8% to 20% from 1991 to 2017. Evaluation of a subsample of 200 papers showed no evidence for differences in taxa studied between dispersal and non-dispersal publications, with most studies focused on North America or Europe. Dispersal was incorporated at a higher frequency in studies from South America, Africa, and island systems. We found that forecasting models predicting range shifts with climate change rarely used dispersal data, but when they did, range shift projections were greatly affected. Our simulation models, in which a range of dispersal estimates were included, showed that projections were greatly influenced by dispersal distance assumptions. We summarize best practices for future research on distributions, including potential methodologies for dispersal integration and highlight the problems if dispersal is ignored.

This study endorses the main findings of a PhD thesis (Hoffmann 2020) and the manuscripts included intend to advance the success of protected areas in biodiversity conservation mediated through effective and efficient protected area management. The manuscripts provide missing scientific evaluations that modern conservation planning over large geographical extents requires: the comprehensive quantification of species diversity within and between protected areas; the development and application of efficient and effective in-situ monitoring and remote sensing of species diversity; and the assessment of anthropogenic climate change threats to protected areas. Moreover, the manuscripts aim at spreading conservation-minded data and knowledge by means of publishing open-access papers, open-source software and open data. This thesis synopsis is to stimulate a growing scientific and public debate on the effectiveness of protected areas and nature conservation under anthropogenic threats, which is necessary to stop nature’s decline and thus guarantee a sustainable future for the welfare of generations to come.