Global Warming Increases Species Extinctions Worldwide
Pastor Dale Morgan
Global Warming Increases Species Extinctions Worldwide*
Austin TX (SPX) Nov 15, 2006
Global warming has already caused extinctions in the most sensitive
habitats and will continue to cause more species to go extinct over the
next 50 to 100 years, confirms the most comprehensive study since 2003
on the effects of climate change on wild species worldwide by a
University of Texas at Austin biologist.
Dr. Camille Parmesan's synthesis also shows that species are not
evolving fast enough to prevent extinction.
"This is absolutely the most comprehensive synthesis of the impact of
climate change on species to date," said Parmesan, associate professor
of integrative biology. "Earlier synthesis were hampered from drawing
broad conclusions by the relative lack of studies. Because there are now
so many papers on this subject, we can start pulling together some
patterns that we weren't able to before."
Parmesan reviewed more than 800 scientific studies on the effects of
human-induced climate change on thousands of species.
"We are seeing stronger responses in species in areas with very
cold-adapted species that have had strong warming trends, like
Antarctica and the Artic," said Parmesan. "That's something we expected
a few years ago but didn't quite have the data to compare regions."
Previously published predictions, including those co-authored by
Parmesan in a 2001 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report,
were that species restricted to cold climate habitats like the Earth's
poles or mountain tops and with narrow temperature tolerances (for
example, tropical corals) would be most affected by global warming. Less
than a decade later, those predictions have been born out.
The most sensitive species are going extinct and/or shifting their
ranges geographically as their original habitats become inhospitable.
The studies reviewed by Parmesan reveal this trend will continue.
"Some species that are adapted to a wide array of environments--globally
common, or what we call weedy or urban species--will be most likely to
persist," said Parmesan. "Rare species that live in fragile or extreme
habitats are already being affected, and we expect that to continue."
The studies Parmesan analyzed also show that some species--those with
short generation times like insects--are evolving in response to climate
change, but not in ways that could prevent extinction.
"Some populations are adapting, but species are not evolving anything
that's really new, something we haven't been able to say before because
we didn't have enough studies," Parmesan said. "To really come up with
something new that's going to allow a species to live in a completely
new environment takes a million years. It's not going to happen in a
hundred years or even a few hundred years. By then, we might not even
think of it as the same species.
"The good news is that some species already had a few individuals that
were good at moving, so some populations are evolving better dispersal
abilities. These species are able to move faster and better than we
thought they could as climate warms at their northern range boundaries.
So, they're expanding into new territories very rapidly."
Parmesan said that pests and diseases are also showing the same
northward shifts as other wild animals.
Parmesan also found that, at present, scientists cannot predict exactly
which species will respond to climate change based on what kind of
organism it is. Within groups of animals and plants, some species
respond to climate change and others do not.
"Whether it's within fish, trees or butterflies, you're seeing some
species responding strongly and some staying fairly stable," said
Parmesan. "But within each group you're still seeing about half of the
species showing a response. It's a very widespread phenomenon."