Given current climatic trends, an imperative among ecologists is to study the impact of global warming on populations, communities and ecosystems around the world. To persist, plant and animal species will have to adapt to the new conditions or track the suitable climate into new regions. Thus, reliable forecasting of future species distributions and/or their adaptation potential will be crucial in order to assess the effects of global warming on those communities, and consequentially to implement appropriate conservation, restoration and management plans. This symposium will offer an overview of the approaches followed by global change research scientists in their studies of the impact of global warming on a diversity of ecosystems. We highlight approaches that rely on existing spatially and temporally varying environmental gradients, rather that those requiring technologically and financially challenging methodology. Researchers participating in this symposium will illustrate several creative ways to take advantage of information already inherent in the system of study that can be used to predict future outcomes of species’ distributions and adaptation potential to global warming. Examples of studies that will be presented include: -the use of existing long-term phenological data sets; -translocation experiments; -mechanistic range models for ecological forecasting; -landscape level habitat studies; -demographic analyses along elevational gradients; -spatial and temporal models of forest dynamics under drought in the tropics; -the use of genomics to assess the physiological constraints on geographic range; -the application of physiology and eco-mechanics in aquatic ecosystems; -the integration of high-resolution climate and fire data to assess fire regime trends. By taking advantage of species genetic variability, species differential physiology or of natural gradients in relation to the key climatic and edaphic drivers of the species distributions, these approaches provide a robust framework for studying the potential response of many species’ to global warming. These are also methods that can be applied to other locations and systems, benefiting the scientific community in their study of the impact of global warming on ecosystems.