Climate Change and Evolution

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Climate Change and Evolution

The ecological consequences of global climate change are expected to be drastic although not much is known as to how individual species will react to these changes. Irrespective of the causes of climate change, whether anthropogenic or natural, it is imperative that we address these concerns, as they will have widespread impacts on the human species, both directly and indirectly through forcings on other species. The climate is not expected to shift evenly and the ways in which certain species adapt or migrate due to these changes could be erratic and unpredictable. The rate at which the earth’s climate is currently changing is unprecedented and has not been seen in the past 450,000 years. Although many species have simply migrated northward or vertically up mountainsides to escape warming habitats, others do not have this luxury or cannot migrate fast enough to survive. The earth’s temperature has risen by over one degree Fahrenheit over the past century, based on land and sea level measurements. The temperature is expected to continue rising at a faster pace over the next century, possibly increasing by as much as seven degrees Celsius. In comparison, the earth’s average global temperature was only twelve degrees cooler than it is now during the last great ice age. A vast majority of species now living do so within a narrow spectrum of temperature ranges and will not be able to adapt to a warming climate on such a large scale. If humans are the cause of a warming climate we will ultimately be responsible for the destruction of millions of species.

Indicator Species

Polar bears are one species that are currently feeling the effects of a warming climate. Over the past twenty years, NA...

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Ian Stirling, Nicholas J. Lunn and John Iacozza, 1999. "Long-term trends in the population ecology of polar bears in western Hudson Bay in relation to climate change", Arctic 52(3):294-306. September 1999.

Markham, Adam and Malcolm, Jay. September 2000.

Speed kills: rates of climate change are threatening biodiversity.

http://www.woza.co.za/eco/news/sep00/speed12.htm

Antipredator Adaptations by Monarch Butterflies

Kim A. Pike

http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/Entomology/courses/en507/papers_1999/pike.htm

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Special Report

The Regional Impacts Of Climate Change: An Assessment Of Vulnerabilities

(Summery For Policy Makers.) 1995

http://www.ipcc.ch/pub/regional(E).pdf

Stevens, William K. 1999. The Change In The Weather: People, Weather and the Science of Climate. New York, New York. Delecorte Press.

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