Effect of Climate Change on Animals Essay

Many animals around the world are severely affected by climate change. Climate change is the rise in average temperatures on Earth’s surface. When humans interact with fossil fuels, which are coal, natural gases, and oil, they release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the air. These gases trap heat in the atmosphere and can have a great effect on climate change. These changes include rising sea levels, landscapes being more prone to wildfires, and the pollen season length getting longer. Although these may be important, I think that the most important cause of climate change is how severely animals are affected by this. Animals like polar bears, snow leopards, and the Orang-utan struggle to survive everyday in result of climate

One of the more debated and controversial topics in modern time is whether climate change really has an effect on animal life and the environments they live in. There are numerous sources of evidence on both sides supporting many theories and trying to determine whether climate change actually has an effect on animal life can be hard. In the following paper, we will discuss how it has a negative effect on animals like polar bears and how their population sizes are decreasing due to environmental changes like the the ozone layer and the melting ice caps.

How do the animals adapt to the changes throughout their lifetime? Animals may go through a different change in their lifestyle due to global warming. These species have to adapt to the type of weather their habitat is experiencing. Though global warming is a factor in the wildlife’s migration to other sites where the weather is more cooperative, the animals will however experience food shortage. They will have no prey for them to catch depending on what area of the world they are. These animals may find it difficult for them to survive due to global warming drying up several wetlands; breeding and raising young animals is also difficult for the wildlife animals. Animals in the wildlife have to adapt to the se changes within their lifespan by migrating to different areas of the world or figure out things they can manipulate in their living space in order to survive the harsh time they will be passing or not.

Climate change a constant topic discussed in today’s society, among these topics include its effect on the behavior of animals. The effects of climate change can alter a number of different behaviors in animals their migratory patterns, their hibernation patterns, their breeding patterns, and their eating behaviors and in addition, all of these alterations to a habitat could cause injury to the food chain of an ecosystem. Wildlife in an area isn't only affected directly by climate change but the alterations made by humans due to climate change. All of these different changing factors all add to the severity of climate.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts a further rise of between 1.4°C and 5.8°C by the end of the century. Climate change could therefore well be the knock-out punch for many species which are already under stress from overfishing and habitat

The arctic top predator, the polar bear is being greatly affected by global warming. The polar bear uses ice as its resting place and also as its hunting ground, by capturing sea lions when they come up through holes in the ice. As a result of the melting of the arctic because of global warming, these predators have being forced to search for areas with more stable ice that can support their lifestyle. Others have being forced to swim for long distances and even drown in the ocean in search of a new habitat. A 2007 report from the U.S. Geological Service estimated that “as a result of sea-ice decline, today’s population of about 22,000 polar bears would decrease by two-thirds by the year 2050”. The rapid decrease in the number of polar bears will force these animals into extinction. Climate change doesn’t only have an adverse effect on polar bears but also on sea turtles. Part of the life cycle of these marine creatures take place on land as well as in the ocean. Female turtles come on land to nest and lay their eggs, and later return back to the ocean. The increase in water levels as a result of melting icebergs has forced these marine mammals to swim long distances to go on shore and lay their eggs. Increase in marine temperatures may have an adverse effect on the incubation period of these marine mammals. It may lead to most eggs are not being fertilized, or a bias in the

Some effects from climate change that affect these animals are temperatures are rising, change in rainfall patterns, droughts and heat waves, sea levels are rising,

The ecological consequences of global climate change are expected to be drastic although not much is known as to how individual species will react to these changes. Irrespective of the causes of climate change, whether anthropogenic or natural, it is imperative that we address these concerns, as they will have widespread impacts on the human species, both directly and indirectly through forcings on other species. The climate is not expected to shift evenly and the ways in which certain species adapt or migrate due to these changes could be erratic and unpredictable. The rate at which the earth’s climate is currently changing is unprecedented and has not been seen in the past 450,000 years. Although many

One of the most important environmental influences on ecosystems is climate. Greenhouse gas pollution is acquiring heat in the atmosphere and inordinately raising global temperatures. Colorado, for example, has warming predictions of 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit by 2025 and up to 4 degrees by 2050. The impact of climate change can and will affect ecosystems in numerous forms. Such an impact is that warming of the climate will compel a variety of species to shift to higher elevations in order to find a temperature that more closely relates to the species survival. This migration can also be related to warming causing tree lines to rise several hundred feet per degree Fahrenheit that temperature rises thus removing habitat for many species. Warming will also cause a flux in precipitation and snowpack which can lead to wetland areas and stream temperatures to rise and alter habitats of cold-water fish. Climate change also directly affects sea levels as melting of polar caps are causing them to rise. This can cause salt water to intrude upon freshwater ecosystems and these species may not be able to adapt and they lose their habitats and must advance elsewhere or perish. This shock can also cause different predatory and prey species to leave which drastically alters the food chain and causing critters to starve or migrate to different areas where they may not be able to adapt and causing them to

Global Warming is overall increase in temperature of planet earth due to emissions of green house gasses like carbon dioxide, and nitrogen. Human activities like fuel burning in industries and automobiles, burning down the forests and human waste release sufficient amount of greenhouse gasses in atmospheric layer of earth. Atmosphere consists of carbon

What would the world be without its majestic and fantastic animals? There are about 8.7 million species of animals on this planet. However, because of the decisions that humans made over the last century many species are in danger. Climate change is impacting everything on this planet from food, resources and the conditions in which living beings live. Living creatures such as the polar bears, Adelie penguin, Koalas, Arctic foxes and the coral reef are being affected by climate change.

Climate change is happening all over the world. From various regions like, the United States, to regions across the world like Antarctica and Greenland. Not only is climate change affecting people in the United States such as those who live on the East coast and are more prone to intense weather like storms or hurricanes, but it is also affecting various types of animals, such as polar bears. These issues will be further discussed. Regions all over the world, are experiencing climate change, because temperatures are fluctuating and in many regions, becoming warmer than intended. Climate change affects many organisms, and most of the effects of climate change are negative impacts on their life, or even destruction to their habitat.

Climate change doesn’t just mean that certain species will suffer from the loss of habitat. There will be a cascade effect up and down the food chain, affecting the most basic species of prey and apex predators alike. Dominant predators with a strong preference for a carnivorous diet are arguably more vulnerable to destruction of their environments. If the prey population suffers, it directly affects the survival of the predators that depend on them. Polar bears have an especially focused diet, and seals are their prefered prey. Interestingly, the milk produced by polar bear mothers “is more similar to that of pinnipeds (seals) than it is to milk of most terrestrial mammals” (Amstrup, 599). Like polar bears, several species of seal depend on a reliable presence of sea ice in order to breed (Derocher 2004, p. 168). A dwindling seal population will almost certainly affect polar bears.

Impacts of climate change are increasingly felt by Earth’s inhabitants including us, humans. The current warming, which is only one degree Celsius, has affected different ecological processes such as “species’ genetics, seasonal response, overall distribution, and even morphology” (Hance). Species are suddenly disappearing. A study conducted by “PLOS Biology found that more than 450 plants and animals have undergone local extinctions due to climate change” (Hance).

Many species of plants and animals have felt the negative effects of global warming and climate change. Mass deforestation has destroyed many habitats and caused extinction or endangered many flora and fauna. For example, the kiwi is now a protected species because humans have destroyed their habitat through deforestation. Not only does deforestation destroy habitats, it also depletes the amount of trees that would absorb carbon dioxide. The oceans are the most threatened of ecosystems. The only pristine areas of ocean can be found under polar ice caps while the worst ecosystems are near coasts hit heavily by land pollution, over fishing, oil and gas exploration and climate change. The melting of the polar ice caps endanger arctic species such as the polar bear, narwhals, certain species of seals, seabirds such as auks and ivory gulls, the walrus and species of algae that grow in the ocean. Algae are a main food source for many ocean species and its depletion will have a negative effect on the food web. Global warming has become a real concern over the past few years, causing nations to start taking precautions.