Past climate changes have led to considerable changes in the species composition of ecosystems. The recent increase in average global temperature is rather strong compared to previous warming periods and, if climate models are correct, future warming will be even stronger. Especially in Europe where the landscape has been greatly fragmented by human activities, the ongoing and projected changes in climate will pose an additional stress on the natural biodiversity. This paper will discuss a method for the selection of bio-indicators to assess the possible landscape-ecological effects of climate change, and presents some preliminary results of the selection of indicator species for the Netherlands.
