{"id":66704,"date":"2022-03-02T11:19:17","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T15:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carilec.org\/?p=66704"},"modified":"2022-03-02T11:19:17","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T15:19:17","slug":"5-signs-of-how-climate-change-is-unraveling-earths-ecosystems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/5-signs-of-how-climate-change-is-unraveling-earths-ecosystems\/","title":{"rendered":"5 signs of how climate change is unraveling Earth\u2019s ecosystems"},"content":{"rendered":"

Global warming is taking a bigger toll on wildlife than we previously thought, a new IPCC report shows.<\/p>\n

By\u00a0Benji Jones<\/span><\/a>

new report<\/a>\u00a0from the UN\u2019s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), researchers from 67 countries warned that warming is putting a large portion of the world\u2019s biodiversity and ecosystems at risk of extinction, even under relatively conservative estimates. Never before has an IPCC report \u2014 considered the gold standard for climate science \u2014 revealed in such stark detail how climate change is harming nature.<\/p>\n

What ails wildlife ails us, the authors wrote. Humans are inextricably dependent on many species that are in jeopardy from rising temperatures, whether they\u2019re animals that pollinate crops, filter\u00a0<\/strong>rivers and streams, or feed us. In the US alone, for example, more than\u00a0150 crops<\/a>\u00a0depend on pollinators, including nearly all fruits and grains, and climate change\u00a0puts them at risk<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Humans have warmed the planet by an average of 1.1 degrees Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit) since the 19th century. While the landmark Paris agreement aims to limit warming to 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius, global temperatures are\u00a0on track<\/a>\u00a0to grow to between 2 and 3 degrees C by the end of the century.<\/p>\n

The IPCC\u2019s lengthy report is packed with evidence of how rising temperatures are putting biodiversity and ecosystems at risk \u2014 but the following five figures stand out. Each is a reminder of what we have to lose and how much we can gain if governments and companies dramatically cut their carbon emissions.<\/p>\n

14 percent of all species living on land are at risk of going extinct<\/h3>\n

If the planet warms by 1.5 degrees Celsius \u2014 which is almost certain \u2014 up to 14 percent of all plants and animals on land will likely face a high risk of extinction, according to the report. The outlook becomes graver if temperatures rise even further; with 3 degrees of warming, for example, up to 29 percent of species on land could face extinction.<\/p>\n

In the next few decades, some plants and animals will likely experience temperatures \u201cbeyond their historical experience,\u201d especially those that live in polar regions, the authors wrote. Even 1.2 degrees Celsius of warming \u2014 just above current levels \u2014 puts many ecosystems at risk from heatwaves, drought, and other climate extremes, they added.<\/p>\n

Climate change is likely to take a greater toll on animals that are found only in one location, known as endemic species.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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47 percent of species have already lost some of their populations due to climate change<\/h3>\n

Global warming has already extinguished local populations of many creatures \u2014 roughly half of the 976 species that one\u00a0researcher studied in 2016<\/a>. The American pika, for example, has disappeared from a large swath of its former habitat in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California, likely due to climate change, according to a\u00a02017 study<\/a>. Adapted to cool weather, these small mammals are especially vulnerable to unusually warm weather.<\/p>\n

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An American pika with a mouthful of grass. Arterra\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

In 2005, heatwaves decimated a subspecies of lemuroid ringtail possum, a rare marsupial, in Queensland, Australia, according to the report. And rising seas and storm surges were likely behind the recent extinction of an Australian rodent called the Bramble Cay melomys.<\/p>\n

Just last summer, scorching temperatures killed\u00a0hundreds of millions<\/a>\u00a0of marine animals in the Pacific Northwest, from sea stars to mussels. They also threatened millions of young\u00a0salmon<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 fish with intricate and important ties to Indigenous tribes. These kinds of species losses are worse in the tropics and in freshwater ecosystems, the authors write.<\/p>\n

Half of all species have moved toward the poles or up mountains<\/h3>\n

Climate change is also reorganizing entire ecosystems. To escape deadly temperatures, plants and animals are moving to (once) colder climates \u2014 that is, toward the poles, up mountainsides, or into deeper water.<\/p>\n

Roughly half of all species studied have moved toward the poles or to a higher elevation, according to the report. Those shifts are especially noticeable at sea, where they\u2019ve traveled on average 59 kilometers (37 miles) per decade poleward, according to the report. Large numbers of Atlantic mackerel, for example, have moved from waters near the UK and Scandinavia to Iceland,\u00a0spurring geopolitical tensions<\/a>\u00a0related to fishing rights.<\/p>\n

The warming climate is changing animals in other ways, too. A large number of studies, for example, suggests that it\u2019s\u00a0making many species smaller<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Coral reefs could decline by 90 percent<\/h3>\n

Climate scientists have an especially grim prognosis for coral reefs: Just 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming could destroy up to 90 percent of tropical coral reefs, which are home to an incredible diversity of organisms and form the basis of many fisheries.<\/p>\n

Global warming hits reefs with a double-punch. Oceans absorb a third or more of the carbon dioxide that enters the atmosphere, which makes them more acidic over time. That\u2019s bad news for reefs \u2014 as is unusually warm water. Rising ocean temperatures can cause coral to eject the algae that live harmoniously with them, in a process known as bleaching. Bleached coral is more likely to die.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlmost all coral reefs will degrade from their current state, even if global warming remains below 2 degrees C,\u201d the researchers wrote. \u201cTheir global decline shows that we don\u2019t need to look into the future to recognize the urgency of climate action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Climate change will make 8 percent of the world\u2019s farmland \u201cunsuitable\u201d by 2100<\/h3>\n

The impact of climate change on food production is equally troubling. According to the report, just 1.6 degrees C of warming this century will make 8 percent of today\u2019s farmland \u201cclimatically unsuitable.\u201d And by 2100, there will be\u00a0more<\/em><\/a>, not fewer, mouths to feed globally.<\/p>\n

The decline of fish caused by climate change also puts food security at risk, because so many coastal communities worldwide depend on fisheries. Scientists project that in tropical Africa, people will lose up to 41 percent of their fisheries\u2019 yield by the end of the century \u201cdue to local extinctions of marine fish,\u201d under 1.6 degrees Celsius of warming. \u201cDeclining fish harvests could leave millions of people vulnerable to malnutrition,\u201d the authors wrote.<\/p>\n

Climate change is also\u00a0threatening<\/a>\u00a0varieties of\u00a0coffee<\/a>, chocolate, and other foods we love.<\/p>\n

How to slow the extinction crisis<\/h3>\n

Later this year, government officials from around the world will meet to hammer out a global deal to prevent the loss of biodiversity. The deal \u2014 which is part of an international treaty called the\u00a0Convention on Biological Diversity<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 is likely to include a commitment to conserve at least 30 percent of all land and seas by 2030.<\/p>\n

According to the IPCC authors, reaching that target would make ecosystems healthier and offset much of the damage that climate change is causing. \u201cHealthy ecosystems are more resilient to climate change and provide life-critical services such as food and clean water,\u201d said Hans-Otto P\u00f6rtner, who co-chairs IPCC\u2019s Working Group II, which published the report.<\/p>\n

But ultimately, to protect nature, companies and governments \u2014 and, to a lesser extent, individuals \u2014 will have to reduce their emissions, and fast. \u201cAny further delay in concerted global action,\u201d P\u00f6rtner said, \u201cwill miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a livable future.\u201d<\/p>\n

SOURCE: \"\"<\/p>\n

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Global warming is taking a bigger toll on wildlife than we previously thought, a new IPCC report shows. By\u00a0Benji Jones@BenjiSJones […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.svg","month_date":"Mar","day_date":"2","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66704\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}