Climate change is already beginning to affect plants, animals and their role in the ecosystem. Ecosystems are very important as provides habitable conditions. Ecosystems are sensitive to the changes placed upon them whether it is natural or human related. According to Fletcher, “Studies shows that natural decreases in biodiversity are as potentially damaging as the negative impacts resulting from climate change, pollution and other major forms of environmental stress. Because natural stressors are ever present, the growth of negative impacts related to climate change and human population growth could cause increasing damage to ecosystems that are already stressed as a natural condition.” This suggests that natural stressors to global biodiversity will be greater than before as climate change grows. Many unique and sensitive ecosystems can be threatened with extinction. According to Fletcher, “Climate change can affect species in relation to their role in an ecosystem. Species in rich, bio diverse ecosystems are exposed to heightened threats by the consequences of global warming, specifically extreme weather events.” As extreme weather becomes more frequent, it could lead to the extinction of many species. If the primary sources of food being to go extinct, it could result in the depletion of food sources for species such as herbivores as they rely on primary producers. This will affect predators on top of the food chain. Thus, the way the human population uses land, oceans and other natural resources such as fossil fuels affect the quality of the habitats of the plants and animals.
Freshwater resources are important for both the society and the ecosystems. All life on this planet relies on freshwater. It is not just crucial for d...
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Lemmen, D.S.,Warren, F.J., Lacroix, J., and Bush, E., editors (2008): From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate 2007; Government of Canada, Ottawa, ON, 448 p.
Nelson, Gerald C., Mark W. Rosegrant, Marilia Magalhaes, Rowena Valmonte-Santos, Mandy Ewing, David Lee, Jawoo Koo, Richard Robertson, Timothy Sulser, Tingju Zhu, Claudia Ringler, Siwa Msangi, Amanda Palazzo, and Miroslav Batka.Climate change: impact on agriculture and costs of adaptation. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute, 2009. Print.
Climate change is arguably one of the most discussed issues in climatic conferences and political debates across the world. Establishment of the fact that global warming is the leading cause of climate change continues to persuade people to find out ways of reducing or mitigating the effects it has on the earth. Global warming occurs naturally, but artificial causes, which are mainly human activities, contribute to this effect. The release of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from human activates has led to a 0.60C rise in global temperatures (Walther et al., 2002). This implies that different life forms are affected in one way or the other given the effect of temperature on life. Different species of flora and fauna have and continue to suffer the effect of climatic changes.
Climate change has been happening for many years and it continues to do so. It is a significant change in regards to the distribution of weather patterns over a given time frame such as decades or millennia. In recent times, the climate change is called “global warming” and it has been linked to certain human activities (NRC 2010). This shows that climate change is not limited to biotic factors. In a general sense, these changes have the potential to impact populations and ecosystems due to alterations in the water cycle. Climate change impacts includes too little water in some regions while too much water in other regions. Changes in precipitation patterns can influence plant physiology and thereby affect the rates of photosynthesis. Such patterns include drought in which warmer temperatures increase evaporative stress on a plant and increased rain or frequency of storms can influence water uptake by plants. Under both conditions, there is a change in photosynthetic rates. Photosynthesis allows the plant to accumulate carbon, grow and produce biomass (Niu et al. 2008). Therefore, a change in photosynthetic rates can be either beneficial or harmful to a plant. The effects of altered precipitation patterns on photosynthetic rates is significant to the scientific field because it gives insight on the shifts in plant community composition and how it affects the water availability for human and ecosystem uses (Kray et al. 2012). In addition, understanding the connection between water relations and photosynthesis with respect to changes in precipitation patterns could help with management decisions of ecosystems, where climate change indicates alterations in species composition, in water availability for wildlife and in fire regimes (L...
Climate change is arguably one of the most controversial topics in modern science, and undoubtedly one of the most important. Ongoing research has shown that the planet’s climatic temperature has increased slightly yet significantly over the past century. Studies have also found that this warming can be attributed to human activities since the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As time goes on and humans continue their harmful actions, climate change and its related effects will continue to negatively impact nearly all living organisms.
Climate change is currently one of the greatest challenges facing our species. This case study report will examine issues related to food production in relation to climate change. In this regard, the focus will be on the Peace River Country, which is a parkland region that spans from northwestern Alberta to the Rocky Mountains in northeastern British Columbia and around the Peace River. As part of its examination, this report will explore the local environment conditions, and offer predictions of what lies ahead in areas of economic development, the food practices including how climate changes may affect the local food production, as well as other future and predicted changes in the area.
The plants we grow for food needs specific resources to thrive, which includes the night temperature and enough water. A changing climate could create a lot of problems. Climate change could make it too hot and also make it too cold to grow crops in some areas of the world and also climate change can cause drought, which is made by the unavailability of water for irrigation. Climate change is likely to cause stronger storms and more floods, which will damage the crops. . Latin America and Southern Asia is seeing it in lethal storms and floods whereas Europeans are experiencing it in melting glaciers, forest fires and disastrous heat waves (Pearce, 2006). Deforestation is another anthropogenic factor that is causing climate change because of the need for fossil fuel, agricultural lands are being used. Forests are being burnt down by humans on a daily basis. As agricultural lands becomes less in need of growing population, people extend their space by cutting and clearing forest. The land beneath the forest sometimes tends to be unproductive and lacks the natural chemicals for a growing. The plantation will serve as a source of food for a few years after then the land becomes useless because of its infertility, it nutrients get depleted and used up. Deforestation results in numerous problems such as destruction of our natural resources, ecosystem, wildlife,
Most people do not think about global temperatures, but local ones. Therefore, climate change affects ecosystems, not just through increases in the mean, but also through changes in the extremes. Earth is already showing many signs of worldwide climate change. Even more, scientists are now able to say that climate change increases the risk of a particular weather pattern by a measurable amount and, in any case, that a particular episode is almost impossible to imagine without global warming.
The following essays reviews three different scholarly articles on climate change adaptation and mitigation: “Case studies in co-benefits approaches to climate change mitigation and adaptation”, “Co-benefits of integrating climate change adaptation
Biodiversity is affected by five main pressures: habitat loss and degradation, climate change, excessive nutrient load and pollution, over-exploitation, and invasive alien species. As mentioned before, humans are not the only force that influences the environment. Natural events such as volcanic eruptions can potentially disrupt an ecosystem’s balance as well. However, at least three out of five of the principle pressures are caused by humans, although it is arguable that we do play a crucial role in speeding climate change and transporting invasive species. Ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss is almost like the result of the other issues.
Smith, Zachary A., and Grenetta Thomassey. Freshwater Issues: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2002. Print
...an others, and many species may become extinct. Pests, diseases and invasive species may also increase due to the climate change that occurs. Climate change may bring population growth to the area due to the warmer climate and more livable conditions, which may become problematic to maintain and these growing outside influences will also effect the culture of the people currently living in the area.
Climate change has serious effects on both living and nonliving things which can destroy their nature, habitat or way of living.
Climate change is one of the major issues surfacing earth over the past century. The earth’s temperature has increased over the years leading to detrimental effects on the economic and life sources of people, especially that of agricultural production and livestock. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary (2014), defined climate change as a change in global climate patterns apparent from the mid late 20th century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, (2007) predicts that by 2100 the increase in global average surface temperature may be between 1.8° C and 4.0° C. With increases of 1.5° C to 2.5° C, approximately 20 to 30 percent of plant and animal species are expected to be at risk of extinction. Moreover, the IPCC (2007) purported that climate change has severe consequences for food security in developing countries. There are numerous factors that are solely responsible for this change which are both natural and man-made. Climate change has led to a decrease in quality and quantity of plant produce and livestock because of heat stress, drought and an increase in plant and animal diseases.
Climate change is currently affecting agriculture because it is causing prolonged droughts, violent flooding, sea level to rise, and also health related issues. Droughts and flooding utterly affect agriculture because it damages cultivation since the amount of water applied to crops and farming is fundamental to the...
In many parts of the world, ecosystems’ temperatures begin to rise and fall to extreme levels making it very difficult for animals and plants to adapt in time to survive. Climate has never been stable here on Earth. Climate is an important environmental influence on ecosystems. Climate changes the impacts of climate change, and affects ecosystems in a variety of ways. For instance, warming could force species to migrate to higher latitudes or higher elevations where temperatures are more conducive to their survival. Similarly, as sea level rises, saltwater intrusion into a freshwater sys...
Rogers, Peter. 2008. "Facing the Freshwater CRISIS. (Cover story)." Scientific American 299, no. 2: 46-53. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 4, 2010).