Impact to Plants & Animals of Climate Change

Animals that can migrate to different habitats are doing so. But those that cannot risk diminished habitat and a grim future. At the same time, many insects are actually expanding their ranges, spreading disease while ruining forests and crops.

In Antarctica, scientists are going under the ice to study the building blocks of the food chain. Without phytoplankton and krill, the food chain of marine animals is threatened.

At the North Pole, Polar Bears have become a symbol of diminishing ice, due to global warming, upon which they depend to hunt seals. Evidence is already available showing Polar Bears are suffering from climate change. Paradoxically, it is the habitats on the fringes that are the first sentinals, announcing damage by climate change.

Coral reefs are reeling from warmer than normal waters, which cause die-offs and bleaching of the coral, turning vibrantly colored underwater reefs into sterile bone-white coral with greatly reduced plant and animal life. The largest coral reef in the world, the Great Barrier Reef of Australia has reported several incidents to date.

Forest fires are extending their range and seasonality, destroying valuable real estate, timber, and wildlife habitats.

Diminished glacial runoff due to reduced snow pack accumulation during milder winters and extended summers reduce the amount of water that plants, animals and fresh water fish require to sustain their populations.

Frogs have been called early warning systems, since they are most delicately attuned to pollutants. The loss of many worldwide species to date is a warning that we are at a dangerous crossroads environmentally.

Marine life is in danger of loss of food chain viability as large chunks of ice break off from the poles and melt. The underside of those ice shelves were covered in algae that supports countless krill - a backbone of the marine foodchain.