Climate Change and its Effect on Various Species

Overview:
Climate Change is a major issue that effects both the environment and human societies. Increasing temperatures are causing vastly varying response in ecosystems and species around the global with some being affected positively while others are effected more negatively. However, the adjustments to the climate are causing drastic changes to the environment regardless of how it benefits certain species and effects all ecosystems and habitats.

Bark Beetle Infestation in near Lake Arrowhead, CA

Climate Change and the effect on various species: Climate change is already showing a profound effect on animals and the ecosystems that they inhabit. Some effects that are already being seen to occur are earlier breeding times and shifts in ranges to higher altitudes. These can have a major impact on the species and the environment they inhabit. Shifts in ranges of species which are considered pest, such as spruce budworms and bark beetles, are causing a serious problems in the habitats they invade. This was observed when the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska experienced a bark beetle outbreak, leading to a 10-20 percent mortality of trees[6,7].

Birds also experience specific effects of global warming; changes in the habitat of the migratory locations of birds could lead to the failure or success for breeding a several hundred million birds that migrate to the arctic in the summer. As trees shift their range due to the warming climate, important breeding and nesting areas of the birds decrease sharply which affects their success [7].

Fish are another animal that are likely to be drastically affected by climate change and the changes that are occurring because of it. These include warmer water temperatures, changes in seasonal flow regimes, total flows, lake levels, and water quality which will all affect the productivity, diversity and species distribution of those ecosystems [7].

For Reptiles and Amphibians, many factors could affect their population and survival in the face of global warming. Examples can be seen with many destroyed sea turtle nests (1,500 along the mexican coast) due to increased severity of hurricanes. Another example would be many amphibians in North America that find the warmer climates dry the ponds earlier than usual, affecting their chances for breeding [7].

Case Study: How climate change can effect hatchling green turtle swimming performance

     In a recent research study conducted by Booth and Evans of the University of Queensland, they have found that global warming may effect the survivability of newly hatched green turtles. For sea turtles nesting on beaches surrounded by coral reefs, the most important part of the newly hatched turtles survival is the ability to escape predation by fish and escape across the fringes of the reefs [1]. In this study, nest temperature and water temperature were both measured and compared with swimming performance of the hatchling sea turtles. Interestingly, the temperatures of the nest and water affected the turtles in opposite directions, with higher nest temperatures negatively affecting swimming performance while higher water temperatures increased swimming performance. However, the results predict that the negative impact  caused by the increased nest temperature will overshadow the gains by warmer water and thus overall, swimming performance will be negatively impacted by global warming [1].
     This study is a good example of how global warming affects many species in a variety of ways, more so than in just drastic changes to habitat or diminishing ranges. Here we can see that global warming can affect species populations through slight adjustments to there most basic abilities evolved for survival.