Ecological Feedbacks in the Earth System

Murphy, Eugene J. and Williams, Jessica J. and Myers‐Smith, Isla H. and Groner, Vivienne P. and Jacoby, David M. P. and Kwiatkowski, Lester and Melbourne‐Thomas, Jess and Ransome, Emma and Banks‐Leite, Cristina and Bopp, Laurent and Gehlen, Marion and Hofmann, Eileen E. and Hoogakker, Babette and Johnston, Nadine M. and Malhi, Yadvinder and Cavan, Emma L. (2026) Ecological Feedbacks in the Earth System. Earth's Future, 14 (2): e2025EF006. ISSN 2328-4277

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Abstract

Plain Language Summary: Organisms in the ocean, lakes, rivers, and on land, interact together, affecting each other and modifying their physical and chemical environments. These ecological interactions form feedback loops, where a change in one part of an ecosystem has knock‐on effects that lead to further changes that enhance or reduce the change. Whilst we know these ecological feedbacks are important, we have limited understanding of how they work within and between ecosystems and over larger scales across the world. Ecological feedbacks are also likely to be disrupted due to ongoing climate change and destructive human activities (e.g., deforestation, pollution). Major gaps in our understanding of ecological feedbacks make it difficult to predict how ecosystems are affected by change and the larger scale impacts. Here, we explore what is currently known about ecological feedbacks, how they affect the physical environment and chemical processes, how they may be affected by human‐driven environmental changes, and what this means for advising policy makers. We also highlight three priority areas of future research, and the need for rapid development of understanding of ecological feedbacks and their role in globally important processes.