Climate change will have strong effects on biological diversity worldwide. Shifts in the phenological behaviour and the patterns of occurences of many species have already been observed on all continents. Climate changes and the induced changes in land use will cause remarkable changes in abundance of and threats to many species including extinction or immigration of invasive species. Furthermore interspecific interactions like predation, competition, parasitism or pollination will be reshaped, intensified, diminished or dispersed. Thus, nature conservation will bei confronted with new challanges. The European network of protected sites Natura 2000 ist the most important instrument to maintain biological diversity within the European Union. Because of the high rate of change in climatic conditions and the preticted wide range of changes in species distribution and composition it has to be discussed to what extent Natura 2000 might fulfil its function to maintain the biological diversity also in future and which measures should be taken to enhance the resilience of the protected areas network.
