Climate change- Impact on plants and animals.

Climate change- Impact on plants and animals.

Question:- Climate change in recent days has been showing its effect globally. The most affected are the animals and plants. Analyze the effects on these.

Change in climate happens naturally and also due to human exploitation. This change brings about harmful effects causing sea level rise, floods, droughts, heat waves and storms. These adversely affect species and habitats around the globe.

Most plants and animals require certain climatic conditions, such as specific temperatures or rainfall etc. Any change in their living conditions can have an adverse effect on their. Change in ecosystem has seen its effects on every species where some are already responding to warmer climate by moving towards colder regions.

The average surface temperature of the planet has raised owing to global warming. If the temperature continues to rise around 1/4th of all animals and plants will soon become extinct within 100 years.

Effects on animals:

The hunting ground for polar bears is removed due to the melting arctic ice.

Rise in sea level and change in salinity will lead to elimination of mangrove forests, leaving species without a habitat.

Since fish like salmon and trout require cold water temperature for survival, warmer temperatures will cause a decline in their population. This also results in bleaching of corals that disrupts the ecosystem that sustains a large number of fish.

Floods and droughts, the biggest effects of global warming can ring a death bell to the ecosystem, turning its upside down. While droughts deprive animals of food and water, floods bring down the quality of water giving rise to untold diseases.

A change in migratory birds is observed when they arrive on time but find no source of food since seeds, flowers have not bloomed yet or have bloomed too early, also insects wherein the eggs have not hatched yet. This leads to a change in the behavioral pattern in the birds.

Soaring temperatures cause animals to move to higher altitudes affecting the distribution of species and the ones that cannot move, perish with the change.

Effects on plants:

There is a considerable increase in forest fires.

The genetic composition of plants may change in response to the pressure of climate change.

A lot of new species may enter new regions.

Certain plant species that are meant to be grown in the Arctic or coastal region may die out completely.

Thus the life cycle of plants and animals goes through a big change and since every plant and animal plays a vital role in the ecosystem, loss of one can impact the whole ecosystem.

Dependency of each plant and animal on each other makes it a circle of life and hence climate change will eventually affect the the entire biodiversity of the earth.

Facts and figures-

Since 1870, global sea levels have risen by about 8 inches.

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen from 290ppm (parts per million) in 1900 to nearly 400 ppm.

There is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today than at any point in the last 8 million years.

Carbon dioxide and methane are the main greenhouse gases contributing to global warming.