We can already see evidence of how climate change is affecting wildlife by disrupting migrations and mutualistic relationships that were developed over thousands of years. Seychelles’ Aldabra banded snail was once thought to be one of the world’s first species pushed to extinction by climate change. Luckily, a small isolated population has been discovered, offering …
In many different ecosystems, a large number of species are threatened by climate change due to poor dispersal capabilities. Lacking proper dispersal mechanisms, species such as slow-maturing plants, mosses, and flightless insects simply may not be able to keep up with changing climatic conditions. You can already see the effects of climate change on Africa’s …
The response of species living in lowlands and on plains tends to be more variable and complex than those living in mountains. While some species may only need to make minor range adjustments, researchers estimate that some African taxa may need to move 500 km —maybe even 1,000 km—to keep up with climate shifts. For …
Species that live in the mountains are particularly threatened by climate change. Because the temperatures drop from about 0.65°C for every 100 min of elevation gain (known as temperature drop) suggests a 1°C increase that climate-sensitive species living on a mountain would be displaced at least 150 m (1. 5 m/year) altitude difference between the …
Climate change on Mountains; How is climate change affecting the mountains? Read More »
History provides us with many lessons to illustrate the impact of climate change on human societies. These lessons start with the earliest well-documented example of a societal collapse—that of the Middle East’s Natufian communities roughly 10,000 years ago—which has been attributed to climatic changes. Since then, climate change has regularly contributed to the collapse of …
Threatening waves of heat, which drown coastal cities, and tens of thousands of displaced refugees … These words can very well describe a scene from the last horror film. But they also describe the nightmare scenario that we humans will face decades from now if we continue to fail to address the threat of climate …
Much of the African continent encompasses the Afro-tropical ecoregion, which is separated from other ecoregions by the Indian Ocean to the East, the Atlantic Ocean to the West, and the Saharan Desert to the North. These major geographic features have acted as barriers to movement since the African continent first took its current shape, enabling …
Habitat loss in rainforests Occupying about 7% of the earth’s total surface, tropical forests are estimated to contain more than 50% of the world’s terrestrial species. Due to these high levels of biodiversity, the complexity of biological interactions in tropical forests is unequaled in other ecosystems, and therefore also their importance to man. At the …
Habitat loss is defined as the total destruction of natural ecosystems, an inevitable consequence of expanding human populations and human activities. Island biogeography theory offers a good explanation of why habitat loss leads to species extinction. Using oceanic islands as a model system, one of the main predictions of the theory is that larger islands …
Habitat fragmentation creates small and isolated subpopulations that have fewer opportunities to find food, water, shelter, and mates and occurs due to human activities such as agriculture, deforestation, infrastructure, and road development. As governments and industries implement measures to accelerate economic growth, ecosystems that once covered large areas continue of land are being increasingly divided …
What is habitat fragmentation and how does it occur? Read More »
