Effects of climate change on ecosystems

Rainforest ecosystems are rich in biodiversity. This is the Gambia River in Senegal's Niokolo-Koba National Park.

Climate change has adversely affected terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Increasing global temperature, more frequent occurrence of extreme weather, and rising sea level are examples of the most impactful effects of climate change. Possible consequences of these effects on ecosystems include species decline and extinction and overall significant loss of biodiversity, change within ecosystems, increased prevalence of invasive species.

Overview

The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (2021) projects progressively large increases in both the frequency (horizontal bars) and intensity (vertical bars) of extreme weather events, for increasing degrees of global warming.

Increasing global temperature means that ecosystems are changing; some species are being forced out of their habitats (possibly to extinction) because of changing conditions. An example is migration. Due to the ever hotter weather, birds are forced to move to foreign lands.

Within the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, experts assessed the literature on the impacts of climate change on ecosystems. Rosenzweig et al. (2007) concluded that over the last three decades, human-induced warming had likely had a discernible influence on many physical and biological systems (p. 81). Schneider et al. (2007) concluded, with very high confidence, that regional temperature trends had already affected species and ecosystems around the world (p. 792). They also concluded that climate change would result in the extinction of many species and a reduction in the diversity of different types of ecosystems (p. 792).

  • Terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity: With a warming of 4-5 °C, relative to 2010 levels, it is likely that global terrestrial vegetation would become a net source of carbon (Schneider et al., 2007:792). With high confidence, Schneider et al. (2007:788) concluded that a global mean temperature increase of around 4 °C (above the 2010–2015) by 2100 would lead to major extinctions around the world.
  • Marine ecosystems and biodiversity: With high confidence, scientists concluded that a warming of 2-3 °C above 2010 levels would result in mass mortality of coral reefs globally. In addition, several studies dealing with planktonic organisms and modelling have shown that temperature plays a transcendental role in marine microbial food webs, which may have a deep influence on the biological carbon pump of marine planktonic pelagic and mesopelagic ecosystems.

See also


This page was last updated at 2024-02-06 05:27 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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