Local biodiversity trends over time are likely to be decoupled from global trends, as local processes may compensate or counteract global change. We analyze 161 long-term biological time series (15–91 years) collected across Europe, using a comprehensive dataset comprising ~6,200 marine, freshwater and terrestrial taxa. We test whether (i) local long-term biodiversity trends are consistent among biogeoregions, realms and taxonomic groups, and (ii) changes in biodiversity correlate with regional climate and local conditions. Our results reveal that local trends of abundance, richness and diversity differ among biogeoregions, realms and taxonomic groups, demonstrating that biodiversity changes at local scale are often complex and cannot be easily generalized. However, we find increases in richness and abundance with increasing temperature and naturalness as well as a clear spatial pattern in changes in community composition (i.e. temporal taxonomic turnover) in most biogeoregions of Northern and Eastern Europe.

Scientists of different disciplines have recognized the valuable role of terrestrial caves as ideal natural laboratories in which to study multiple eco-evolutionary processes, from genes to ecosystems. Because caves and other subterranean habitats are semi-closed systems characterized by a remarkable thermal stability, they should also represent insightful systems for understanding the effects of climate change on biodiversity in situ. Whilst a number of recent advances have demonstrated how promising this fast-moving field of research could be, a lack of synthesis is possibly holding back the adoption of caves as standard models for the study of the recent climatic alteration. By linking literature focusing on physics, geology, biology and ecology, we illustrate the rationale supporting the use of subterranean habitats as laboratories for studies of global change biology. We initially discuss the direct relationship between external and internal temperature, the stability of the subterranean climate and the dynamics of its alteration in an anthropogenic climate change perspective. Owing to their evolution in a stable environment, subterranean species are expected to exhibit low tolerance to climatic perturbations and could theoretically cope with such changes only by shifting their distributional range or by adapting to the new environmental conditions. However, they should have more obstacles to overcome than surface species in such shifts, and therefore could be more prone to local extinction. In the face of rapid climate change, subterranean habitats can be seen as refugia for some surface species, but at the same time they may turn into dead-end traps for some of their current obligate inhabitants. Together with other species living in confined habitats, we argue that subterranean species are particularly sensitive to climate change, and we stress the urgent need for future research, monitoring programs and conservation measures.

The dominant neo-Darwinian paradigm of the evolution of cave animals is that the severe aphotic, low food environment with little environmental cyclic

Within the soil matrix and underlying rock, cracks and fissures and other air-filled spaces between rocks, sometimes called the milieu souterrain superficiel (MSS), are present in a variety of geological contexts. We examined year-long hourly temperature profiles at sites in lava in the Canary Islands and limestone in Slovenia. All sites had species that show morphological adaptations usually associated with cave-dwelling organisms, including elongated appendages and reduced eyes and pigment. MSS sites were studied at depths between 10 and 70 cm and showed strong seasonality, and most had a discernible diurnal cycle as well. The most striking difference from surface habitats was that the temperature extremes were much less pronounced in MSS sites. Temperature variability was not correlated with troglobiotic species richness. The presence of species with similar morphologies to those found in caves indicates that selective pressures are similar in cave and shallow subterranean habitats.