Climate change is producing numerous consequences on our planet, such as rising temperatures through global warming, the melting of the ice at the poles with the consequent rise in sea level and strong meteorological phenomena. However, there is another consequence that seems to be less well known, and that is that climate change is negatively influencing many species whose survival is being compromised, that is, it is affecting the planet's biodiversity. What is happening to these species? In Green Ecologist we explain how climate change affects biodiversity.
What is biodiversity
We could define biodiversity as the entire variability of living beings, whether they are animals or plants, that exist on Earth, including the ecosystems and complexes of which they are part, such as, for example, prairies, steppes, forests or ecosystems of continental and marine waters, among others. Therefore, it is the set of biological variety of the planet, although we can also refer to the variety of living beings in a specific area of the planet.
How important is biodiversity
The Biodiversity that make up ecosystems provides numerous goods and services that are essential for human survival. Many rural communities need the benefits of the natural environment for their ways of life.
But this biodiversity, regardless of its benefits towards us, has a intrinsic value in itself. In addition, ecosystems play a fundamental role in the biogeochemical processes responsible for the operation of terrestrial systems.
What is climate change
Climate change is the name given to the change in the weather patterns of the climate of the entire planet Earth, when it occurs significantly and lasts over time, extending over a variable period of time, and can last from decades to millions of years.
Climate variability is normal per se, since it has always occurred on our planet, the most important being the variations that have occurred in the glacial and interglacial cycles, which have occurred over 100,000 years. However, currently these climatic variations have been increased mainly by human causes. Consequently, scientists are currently working to understand what the past climate was like and, in this way, to be able to make an approximation of what it may be like in the future, thanks to the development of a climate record.
What effect does climate change have on biodiversity?
The biodiversity loss It has several causes, among which are:
- Overexploitation of the natural environment.
- The loss of the habitats of the species.
- Pollution of the environment.
- The introduction of invasive alien species.
- The effects of climate change, which possibly before the end of the century, will be considered the main cause of the loss of biological diversity.
Climate change is increasingly affecting the survival capacity of numerous species unable to adapt their needs to new environmental conditions (migrating, changing their behavior patterns or through genetic modifications, which entails a very long time frame), being difficult its conservation. This is especially notorious in populations of species with a low number of individuals or populations that, due to the place where they live (such as islands, high mountain areas or peninsulas), are not able to move to other similar habitats.
Climate change has many action points on the biodiversity of species. Some of the points that respond to how climate change affects biodiversity are:
- It alters basic functions of living beings, such as their growth rate or their behavior patterns.
- It produces changes in the populations of species, modifying their size or structure.
- It affects the structure of ecosystems and the cycles in which they intervene, such as decomposition processes, cycles and recycling of nutrients, water flows or interspecific interactions (between species).
- Landscape modifications of ecosystems.
- Changes in the intensity and regimes of these alterations that affect species and ecosystems.
If these changes continue to occur in an increasingly intense way, biodiversity will be seriously threatened with serious consequences, such as the extinction of a large number of species.
Solutions to the loss of biodiversity due to climate change
All actions aimed at conserve biodiversity The main premise must be the species' capacities to adapt to climate change. To do this, a key point would be to integrate biodiversity conservation policies and those aimed at alleviating climate change.
The European Union proposed a series of measures to deal with these effects on biodiversity and ecosystems of climate change. These propose to protect the integrity of the various ecosystems, as well as their capacity to recover from these adverse conditions (resilience). On the other hand, the decisions taken should promote the conservation of natural spaces, especially protected natural spaces, which are increasing.
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