Transplant experiments : a powerful method to study climate change impacts

Transplant experiments are a direct test of whatmight happen in the future as species or entire communities are moved out of their current climate into a location with novel climate conditions. Here we assess our current understanding of climate change adaptation responses using transplant experiments. Firstly, we assess the current knowledge on species and community responses to climate change. We then identify the way climate change responses have been carried out to date with an emphasis on transplant experiments including: adaptation to a warmer climate; potential of range shifts; changes in phenology; shifts in species interactions; disentangling genotypic and phenotypic responses; and shifts in communities. Further, we assess transplant experiments that specifically assess invertebrate responses using network analyses and conclude with an assessment of what is missing in the current approaches and the way forward with future transplant experiments.