Hof, C., Levinsky, I., Araújo, M.B. & Rahbek, C.

Ongoing climate change is assumed to be exceptional because of its unprecedented velocity. However, new
geophysical research suggests that dramatic climatic changes during the Late Pleistocene occurred extremely rapid,
over just a few years. These abrupt climatic changes may have been even faster than contemporary ones, but relatively
few continent-wide extinctions of species have been documented for these periods. This raises questions about the
ability of extant species to adapt to ongoing climate change. We propose that the advances in geophysical research
challenge current views about species’ ability to cope with climate change, and that lessons must be learned for
modelling future impacts of climate change on species.