Apr
8
More Plants and Animals under Threat of Extinction to Climate Change
April 8, 2008 | | Leave a Comment
By Eva Chang (10)
Recent reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have shown that the earth’s increasing temperature has in turn increased the number of extinct species The average rise in temperatures by 1.5 degrees to 2.5 degrees Celsius has put at risk 20 to 30 percent of the species of plants and animals across the globe. Climate change has significantly affected the earth’s biodiversity.
The 2007 Red List report of the World Conservation Union has shown that 10.26 percent of identified species of plants and animals are within the list of threatened species because of the continuing rise in temperature. The most threathened species are amphibians and mammals since 29.17 percent of amphibians and 20.20 percent of mammals could become extinct if global temperature continues to rise.
Although, both reports agree on the adverse impact of climate change to biodiversity, the extent of impact differs with the IPCC reporting a greater impact.
World Resources Institute commented that the difference in extent of reports has put into question the accurary and validity of the reports. Commonly used predictive tool is the climate-envelope model, which assesses the threat of global warming to biodiversity. This test looks at records of species and the climate in different geographic areas and comparing changes in the number of species and number within species as climate changes. This does not consider factors such as the interaction of species and results often vary with the integration of historical data. Science Daily reports that continuing assessments and improvements in predictive tools have resulted to the development of computer coupled models that are able to closely stimulate the environment of species and predict the impact of climate change to the species with greater accuracy. Accurate predictive tools would allow policymakers to determine species experiencing the greatest threat of extinction due to climate change and make the necessary intervention to preserve biodiversity.
Maintaining biodiversity ensures the existence of human society. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reported that at least 40 percent of the economic activities across the globe depend on the continuity of outputs from biological processes such as the pollination of plants by many animals that provide food and trading products to humans. Ensuring biodiversity also prevents the overflowing of some species over other species that threaten humans such as the rise in the population of field mice that eat up crops when snakes become extinct or the encroachment of wild animals into human communities as their food supply in the forests become extinct.
