Global Warming on Species
- Josh Dehoff
- Nov 21, 2021
- 6 min read
Climate change entails warming, cooling, and more intense storms. Out of these three, overall warming proves to be the biggest threat.
Above is a graph showing how much temperatures really have changed.
Source: (Ghosh, 2021)
As the graphic shows, the Earth's average surface temperature has risen by 0.13 degrees Fahrenheit per year. Although this number is low, the damage it has done is immense and it adds up. On top of this, the rate at which temperatures rise is rising a lot. Since 1981, the temperature has been increasing about 0.32 degrees Fahrenheit per year. This is an alarming rate and is very dangerous to all of Earth’s beautiful wildlife.
To start, global warming is causing intense melting in the Arctics. Polar bear populations are already decreasing and this will not stop unless the warming stops. Polar bears use and rely on ice for all aspects of their life including hunting, breeding, roaming, and even sleeping. Longer ice-free seasons have proven deadly to polar bear populations. Below is a link to a heart-wrenching video about how in trouble the polar bears really are: When Will Polar Bear Populations Collapse? The Answer is Up to Us.
These polar bears need our help! If you would like to help there is a link below to donate to save the polar bears:
Global warming is definitely worse for polar bears because they require such a specific climate. Since these polar bears are on the move so much more and have unfit living conditions, there is an increasing amount of human-polar bear conflicts.
Polar bears are a great example for a species that is very negatively affected due to climate change. However, some species can adapt to global warming. Polar bears have a hard time doing so which is why they migrate or die. Species who can adapt though are also an issue. Warmer temperatures require intense adaptation from plants (Wildlife and Climate Change (U.S. National Park Service), n.d.). They adapt by blooming earlier/later or shifting to cooler locations.
The wildlife that once relied on them is then forced to deal with a different environment which can be lethal. Not to mention, the new area where the plants shift too can not be fit. The plant may become invasive as the new environment has a lack of predators. All of these circumstances present wildlife everywhere with new challenges (Wildlife and Climate Change (U.S. National Park Service), n.d.). A prime example of this can be found in bees. Bees are pollinators meaning they rely on certain plants to pollinate. If these plants’ blooming times shift or their physical location does this can majorly throw off bee behavior and cause them to migrate to areas where they can pollinate plants (Wildlife and Climate Change (U.S. National Park Service), n.d.). Another example of species adapting to global warming then negatively affecting other species can be observed in brook trout. Brook trout are native to Catoctin National Park and they prefer to live in cooler streams. However, global warming has caused a notable increase in air and water temperature in the park. Brown trout, which are not native to the park, thrive in water whether it is cold or hot. Brown trout are now thriving and are rapidly increasing in numbers in the park while the brook are decreasing in population. A 2017 study from the US Geological Survey confirmed that brook trout are decently capable of adapting to warm waters and finding food there but not in the presence of their competitor the brown trout (Wildlife and Climate Change (U.S. National Park Service), n.d.). If trout or any other species that reside in national parks matter to you and you’d like to help. Below you can find a link to the section of National Park Service’s website having to do with how you can take action:
Global warming displacing species is a huge issue. Some species can't escape the heat. Warming ocean temperatures affect every species in the ocean. The reason the ocean is heating is because it absorbs lots of excess greenhouse gases (IUCN, 2018). The warmer water has many negative effects. In June of 2009, the world ocean reached 17 degrees Celsius which is an all time high since ocean temperatures have been recorded (Biello, 2009). This number is only rising. Well, what does warmer temperature mean for marine life? A controlled experiment was done on phytoplankton and zooplankton to see how they would react to warmer temperatures. As the temperature increased, so did the amount of zooplankton and the warmer water actually resulted in them eating all of the phytoplankton. This study showed that if this trend happens in the wild as sea temperatures increase the food chain could bottleneck and face massive consequences as phytoplankton are a key species to marine ecosystems located at the bottom of the food chain (Biello, 2009). Another harmful example of warming ocean temperatures can be seen in lobsters. In the last 60 years, a 2.5-3 degree increase in water temperature in Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay has been observed (Author, 2019). Lobsters, crabs, and other fish have been forced to migrate off the coast to cooler waters. However, lobsters that haven’t migrated have faced much weaker immune systems as a result of the warmer water and it’s now estimated that over one third of the lobsters in that area have now developed a deadly shell disease which they have had much difficult fighting with their compromised immune system (Author, 2019). A final example of harmful global warming in the ocean can be seen in coral. When temperatures increase coral expel the algae living in them and this causes them to turn white; this is known as coral bleaching (Author, 2019). In 2005, due to mass bleaching in the Caribbean, the US lost half its coral (Author, 2019). This bleaching causes a significant decrease in species diversification as so many species rely on healthy coral to survive (Author, 2019).
We’ve looked at the arctic, species migration/adaptation, warming sea levels and habitat loss. Global warming causes all these and also causes an increase in intense storms and fires. Overall increased warmth makes fires more deadly especially when mixed with wind. So far this year, the National Interagency Fire Center has reported nearly 50,000 wildfires in the US that have burned over 6.5 million acres (2021 North American Wildfire Season, 2021). This causes so much habitat destruction and species migration. Sadly, some species can’t make it out as the fires can travel extremely fast when it’s windy. Sick species are most at risk because they can’t escape but even healthy bears, deer, and elk often die. Predators who do make it out such as bears and raccoons use this opportunity in a new area to hunt on more prey because they are new predators to the area (Wildfire and its impact on fish and wildlife | Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, n.d.). This impacts the existing ecosystem negatively because there is an increase in predators. Raptors, or birds of prey, do the opposite and stay in the wildfire areas and actually have more prey to hunt since predators have escaped (Wildfire and its impact on fish and wildlife | Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, n.d.). If you would like to help species endangered by fires you can donate to the link below which is specific to fires in Oregon:
If you can’t donate and live in an area where there are fires there are numbers you can call if you see sick wildlife. Also, remember not to leave out food or water for species escaping fires because this will disrupt their feeding/migrating patterns and is actually not beneficial for them because they need to run until they are safe (Wildfire and its impact on fish and wildlife | Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, n.d.).
Works Cited
Author, G. (2019, August 21). 8 Ways Warmer Oceans Will Affect Sea Life. Get Green Now. https://get-green-now.com/how-will-warmer-oceans-affect-marine-life/
Biello, D. (2009, August 25). How Will Warmer Oceans Affect Sea Life? Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-will-warmer-oceans-affect-sea-life/
Conservation Concerns | Polar Bears International. (n.d.). Polarbearsinternational.org. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://polarbearsinternational.org/polar-bears-changing-arctic/conservation-concerns/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAhMOMBhDhARIsAPVml-E83FyLB66cpaJLdM_m3H5skq1-eB5wQ6uaAa3Lit2dNJZxzzin5F8aAhRnEALw_wcB
Ghosh, I. (2021, January 30). Visualized: Historical Trends in Global Monthly Surface Temperatures (1851-2020). Visual Capitalist. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/global-temperature-graph-1851-2020/
IUCN. (2018, December 5). Ocean warming. IUCN. https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/ocean-warming
Nations, U. (n.d.). Climate Action. United Nations. https://www.un.org/en/climatechange
Wildlife and Climate Change (U.S. National Park Service). (n.d.). Www.nps.gov. Retrieved November 16, 2021, from https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/wildlife-climateimpact.htm#:~:text=Rising%20temperatures%20risk%20destabilizing%20the
Wildfire and its impact on fish and wildlife | Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife. (n.d.). Myodfw.com. https://myodfw.com/articles/wildfire-and-its-impact-fish-and-wildlife
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