Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity and Ecosystems

All of the species that are living today have evolved distinctive features that set them apart from other species throughout generations. Scientists use such distinctions to distinguish one species from another. Different species in the world are organisms that have developed to be so dissimilar from one another. Because of that, they can no longer breed with one another. All creatures that can reproduce with one another are classified as a single species.

Do you know that still there is so much biodiversity to find, scientists have an interest in searching how much biodiversity exists on a global basis. They also look at the number of species in a particular environment, such as a forest, grassland, tundra, or lake. From insects to snakes to antelopes, a single grassland may support a diverse spectrum of animals.

For example, the warm and humid climate of tropical regions provides optimum climatic conditions for plant development in ecosystems that contain the highest biodiversity. Further, ecosystems can retain species that are too tiny to notice with the naked eye. Using a microscope to examine soil or water samples exposes an entire universe of bacteria and other small creatures.

Under this discussion, we would discuss

• What is biodiversity
• What are the different levels of biodiversity
• Why biodiversity is important
• What is climate change
• What are the causative factors of climate change
• What are the impacts of climate change
  • Threats to biodiversity
• Examples of climate change's impact on biodiversity

What is Biodiversity

The variety of animals, plants, fungi, and even microbes such as bacteria that make up our natural world is called biodiversity. Each of these species and creatures works together in ecosystems to preserve balance and support life, much like a complex web.
Biodiversity provides various goods and services that we need to exist in nature. These goods and services include food, clean water, medicine, and shelter.

What are the Different Levels of Biodiversity

There are 3 levels of biodiversity that are commonly investigated.

• Genetic diversity
• Species diversity
• Ecological diversity

The interaction of these three levels of biodiversity creates the complexity of life on Earth.

Why Biodiversity is Important

On a local, national, and international level, the value of biodiversity is increasingly recognized as a critical problem. According to the CSIRO, there are five core values that humans place on biodiversity.

Economic Values

Biodiversity provides humans with the basic ingredients they need to consume and produce goods. Many livelihoods, including that of farmers, fishermen, and forest workers are benefited from biodiversity.

Ecological life support

Biodiversity ensures that ecosystems work properly. This proper functioning of ecosystems provides oxygen, clean air and water. It supports plant pollination, insect control, wastewater treatment and a variety of other ecosystem services.

Recreational activities

There are different recreational activities including birdwatching, hiking, camping, and fishing and other activities that rely on our unique biodiversity. Biodiversity is important to our tourist business.

Cultural activities

The Australian culture is a great example at this context which is inextricably linked to biodiversity through the expression of identity, spirituality, and aesthetic appreciation. Because of their spiritual beliefs about animals and plants, people have significant ties and duties to biodiversity.

Scientific purposes

Biodiversity represents a wealth of systematic ecological data that support us to realize the natural world and its origins.

What is Climate Change

Climate change can be defined as long-term changes in temperature and weather patterns. Natural causes, such as oscillations in the solar cycle, and anthropogenic causes as well can be the reason for these movements. However, these anthropogenic causes have been the primary cause of climate change since 1800. These anthropogenic activities include the combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas.

The fossil fuel combustion happen all around the world ia with the ability of producing greenhouse gas emissions. The green house emissions serve as a blanket over the Earth. Then ultimately it traps the sun's heat and boosting temperatures.

Greenhouse gas emissions contribute to climate change. Carbon dioxide and methane are two examples of greenhouse gases. Utilizing gasoline to drive a car or coal to heat a building produces these gases. When land and forests are cleared, Carbon dioxide is released into the surrounding environment. Garbage landfills found within nations can be identified as a major source of methane emissions.

What is Causing Earth’s Climate to Change?

A variety of factors can cause climate change. The distance between the sun and earth varies with the different locations. The sun is the primary energy source. Oceans are subject to change. An erupting volcano has the potential to alter our climate.

The majority of scientists believe that anthropogenic activities can influence climate change as well. Automobiles are used by people. People heat and cool their homes by using energy. Food is prepared by people. All of this necessitates the need for energy. Coal, oil, and gas can be identified as some of the energy sources. The gases are released into the atmosphere when these sources are burned to utilize energy. The gases have the ability to raise the temperature of the air. This has the potential to alter the climate of a location and alter the Earth's climate.

Scientists suggest that if we want to escape the worst effects of climate change, we need to cut down on temperature rises. Scientists claim that global warming should be kept to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100.

The suggestion of the scientists is that to escape the worst effects of climate change, we need to cut down on temperature rises. According to their claim, global warming should be kept to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100. However, unless additional measures are done, the globe may still warm by more than 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. A forecast published in 2021 by the Climate Action Tracker organization, the earth will warm by 2.4 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

Scientists believe that if nothing is done to mitigate climate change, global warming would approach 4 degrees Celsius in the future. It will result in severe heat waves. Millions of people would lose their homes due to rising sea levels. Irreversible extinction of plant and animal species would occur.

Impacts of Climate Change

Currently, extreme weather occurrences are becoming more common. These occurrences pose a threat to people's lives and livelihoods.

• Many croplands transform into the desert. It may lead to certain locations becoming uninhabitable as a result of continued warming. Excessive rainfall in other parts of the world is producing record floods, as seen in China, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands recently.
• The people in impoverished countries lack the financial means to adapt to climate change. It creates consequences in bearing the impacts of climate change. Many farmers in developing countries already facing these consequences and they have to deal with excessively hot conditions. Currently, things are only going to grow worse.
• Due to climate change impacts, our oceans, as well as their habitats, are in a danger. The Great Barrier Reef in Australia has already lost half of its corals since the past. This a great example to indicate the impacts on the ocean.
• Wildfires are growing increasingly common as the probability of hot, dry weather rises as a result of climate change. The Siberian ground thaws contained greenhouse gases. The fires cause the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. It would accelerate climate change.
• Animals will have to experience a tougher time finding the food and water they require on a warmer planet. Polar bears, for example, may go extinct when the ice they rely on melts away, and elephants may struggle to get the 150-300 liters of water they require each day.

Threats to Biodiversity, due to Climate Change

The experts anticipated that sea ice loss, rapid sea level rise and heat waves would occur as a result of global climate change in the past. The consequences of human-caused global warming are already being felt, are irreversible in the lifetimes of those alive today, and will continue to intensify in the coming decades.

The following are some of the long-term implications of global climate change.

• Temperatures will continue to rise- Because human-induced warming is superimposed on a naturally changing environment, temperature rises have not been uninformed or smooth across the country or over time, and they will not be in the future.
• The Frost-Free Season will be Lengthened - Since the 1980s, the length of the frost-free season and the accompanying growing season has increased across the country, with the highest increases in the western United States, harming ecosystems and agriculture. The growing season is expected to extend further over the United States.
• The periods of exceptionally hot weather lasting days to weeks that we call as droughts and heat waves are expected to become stronger. But cold waves are expected to become less intense. It is expected that summer temperatures will continue to rise. The soil moisture declining will intensify heat waves.
• Hurricanes will become more powerful and intense with the time. Since the early 1980s, it has been increased  the intensity, frequency, and length of storms in the North Atlantic. And also the frequency of the strongest (Category 4 and 5) hurricanes have been increased. Human and natural sources' proportional contributions to these increases are yet to be studied and not known so far. As the climate continues to warm, hurricane-related storm strength and rainfall rates are expected to rise.
• It is expected that global sea level will rise 1-8 Feet by 2100 throughout the world. Based on the reliable record-keeping, the global sea level has risen by around 8 inches. According to recent findings, it is expected to rise another 1 to 4 feet by 2100. The reasons for rising sea level are addition of water from melting land ice and the expansion of warm seawater. Storm surges and high tides are with the potential of combininf with sea level rise and land subsidence in the next decades. It would cause to exacerbate floods in many areas.
• Carbon sinks become sources. The plant species' ability to sequester carbon is altered by climate change, causing carbon sinks to become carbon sources. Warmer temperatures are also leading to an increase in tree death due to disease, drought, and an increase in the incidence and intensity of forest fires. In the end, all of these contribute to increased carbon emissions.

Interesting Facts on Climate Change and Impacts on Biodiversity

Fact 01 – About Cheetahs

In the face of climate change, the population of cheetahs is decreasing rapidly. The cheetah is now designated as vulnerable on the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Cheetahs have ten times lower sperm count than a typical house cat. This is attributed to the production of aberrant coils in cheetah sperm as a result of greater temperatures caused by global warming. Rising temperatures can hinder the large cat's capacity to reproduce by causing male cheetahs to have reduced testosterone levels.

Fact 02 – About Green Turtles

The sex of a baby turtle is determined by the temperature of the sand where the egg is deposited, and climate change affects turtle development as well.
Female turtles are produced in warmer locations. As a result of the rising temperatures caused by climate change, more females than males are hatching. As a result, the number of male green turtles in the area decreased. This may have an impact on green turtle population growth in the future since female turtles will have fewer mating partners.

Fact 03 – About Adele Penguins

Adele Penguins birds feed on krill – shrimp-like organisms that reside beneath the ice sheets and live on the Antarctic continent. The ice in this area is melting due to climate change. As the ice melts, krill stocks decline, forcing penguins to leave their natural environment in search of alternate food sources. Because they sometimes run out of food, this makes it difficult for them to settle down and mate during the breeding season.