Global Warming's Affects on Flora & Fauna
Fauna and flora have adapted to many changes in temperatures over thousands of years. However, they normally do not have to adapt to changes so sudden as those brought about by global warming. Different species have physiological limitations that prevent them from surviving sudden weather changes, which can lead to extinctions.
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Fauna Migration
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Some fauna are capable of migrating during climate change to find areas with more suitable temperatures. They often have internal compasses that allow them to travel to new locations. However, these species are not always able to migrate to locations where they will be successful. As some species migrate to escape the effects of global warming, other less competitive species might be displaced by the more competitive species. Some displaced fauna travel to areas where they do not have as much access to water and nutrients, which can negatively impact their health. Fauna can resist changes in the environment more when they have a broader range of habitats to which to migrate. By reducing habitat destruction and expanding nature preserves, fauna will have more locations to which they may relocate.
Flora Migration
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Flora might migrate to an extent by distributing their offspring via seeds, depending on how far their seeds are carried. According to Plattsburg State University, trees can migrate about 1 to 45 kilometers per century.
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Evolution
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Global warming is causing some fauna and flora to evolve in response. For example, squirrels in the United States are developing different breeding schedules in response to global warming. Sheep are shrinking in Scotland because they do not have to eat as much to survive during the shorter winters. Global warming is causing some flora to flower earlier in the spring and is also causing more flora to reproduce earlier. However, some species might not evolve fast enough to escape extinction.
Ecosystem Damage
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Global warming can have negative effects on flora. Flora are less mobile than fauna and are often highly adapted to a particular environment. Changes in temperature can stress the flora and global warming can cause changes in rainfall, causing some flora to experience drought, while other flora experience excessive rain, which can damage the root systems of the flora. The increased CO2 can cause some flora to grow faster than normal, destabilizing ecosystems at the expense of other organisms.
Unpredictable Effects
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Global warming can have unpredictable effects on environments, with one change caused by temperature differences leading to other changes that can eventually cause flora and fauna extinction. For example, global warming has caused more warm air to push clouds upwards. Higher clouds influence the humidity of the area. Amphibians need high moisture to survive, so these changes can cause amphibian extinction.
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References
- Stanford University: Fingerprints of Global Warming on Wild Animals and Plants; Terry L. Root;
- University of Texas: Global Warming's Impact on U.S. Plants, Animals Determined From Review of Dozens of Studies; 2004
- Yale University: First Comes Global Warming, Then an Evolutionary Explosion; Carl Zimmer; 2009
- Bloomberg; Sheep Shrinking Each Generation Amid Global Warming; Alex Morales et al.; 2009
- Photo Credit Thomas Northcut/Stockbyte/Getty Images
