North American River Otter

Climate change has affected us in many ways, but it was even more influential on organisms and their community. The Earth is gradually heating and we are left to deal with the consequences. Homes are being destroyed, organisms are dying, and resources are running low. Since 1880, Our Earth’s temperature had increased by about 0.8 degrees Celsius. Climate change is affecting the Earth and scientists say that one more degree will greatly affect people from all over the world. There are many consequences of climate change and each one has a great impact on all of us, but organisms’ homes are being destroyed and thousands of species are dying out. These organisms are imperative to our world and how it functions.

(Feldman et al. 2015) This in turn not only affects the temperatures on land, but also the oceans that are home to many cetaceans (i.e. Dolphins and whales) as well as other marine life such as seals, and turtles. Climate change is an issue that is linked to human influences.

Global warming is causing many places to become hot where they should be cold which is causing the water to become warmer than usually which in some cases for Otters is a good thing but for other species that have habitats in the cold water can cause increase in disease and infections within the Otters. Oil spills are the number one threat to otters because after an otter's fur has been exposed to oil there fur soon because hypothermic. Which causes their body level to drop because the fur turns to a mat texture which leads to their fur not being able to insulate their body keeping it the right

Climate change has been heavily debated amongst scientists; many agree that since the rise of Modernism, anthropogenic activities have resulted in the accumulation of atmospheric CO2, therefore magnifying the greenhouse effect and causing climate change to become a more prevalent issue (Capstick, S. et al, 2015). Conversely some scientists argue that global warming is a natural fluctuation similar to that of the Ice Age, therefore not effecting ecology permanently (Moran, JM 2016). On the other hand, Montoya and Raffaelli (2011) argue that climate change is a major threat to biodiversity and presents information proving that several species are declining in numbers and being forced to move due to the temperatures, acidity and light exposure moving out of their tolerance ranges. This evidence proves that climate change is adversely effecting flora and fauna species as well as changing abiotic factors such as temperature and sea levels. Through this it is clear that climate change is not a hypothesis, but a serious threat that is threatening several biological systems.

This is accomplished through increased feeding and metabolic rates, the specific dynamic action, and its thick dense fur which traps a layer of air to mitigate heat loss. Its behavior is also almost totally based on keeping the needs of its metabolism going. We see this in the large amount of their time they spend foraging, and with how much time they spend grooming which is key to keeping that crucial layer of air beneath their fur. The total metabolic output that this animal maintains day to day is astounding to me, and is unmatched by other marine mammals who don’t have the small body that the otter has. Which results in a high surface area to volume ratio. This means that otters have to potential to lose heat quickly when their fur is compromised. But even then the sea otter has its amazing 16 MJ metabolism to save it and when it comes down to it, that is what allows this crafty and beautiful animal to persist in the harsh elements of the cold Pacific.

There are many ways in which increased levels of greenhouse gasses can affect marine life adapted to colder and warmer water, and many ways marine life can adapt to the effects of climate change whether that be beneficial in the case of phytoplankton or detrimental in the case of Adelie penguins loosing numbers in the south pole.

If there is no effort done to help stop global warming, more than half of the Earth’s species will go extinct. Climate change poses a threat to to Earth’s essential species, because an increase in temperature will not be suitable for arctic animals

Climate change is altering the pattern of life on the planet, causing widespread species extinction, migration and behavior changes (Suzuki, n.d.). For example, female caribou migrate in the spring to small pockets of vegetation where they feed and raise there calves, but for the last decade spring has come so early that by the time the caribou reach the coastal plan, their principle of food plant has already gone to seed (Suzuki, n.d.). This proves that the female caribou are going to have to change breeding time frames, as well as migration, which will have an overall affect on the ecosystem. This also means that animals and plants will have to permanently migrate to find suitable habitats but some will not be able to move fast enough to keep up with the pace of climate change (Suzuki, n.d.). In fact, by saying that it means that some species will have to move 10 times faster than they did during the last ice age just to survive. Over 30% of land surfaces in Canada will require unrealistically high migration rates to keep up with projected climate change (Suzuki, n.d.). Another example of this issue is with Collared Lemmings. They are an important prey for snowy owls, which may lose as much as 60% of their habitat. Loss of tundra habitat could radically reduce the availability of vital breeding habitat for millions of geese and shore birds (Suzuki, n.d.). In general ecosystems are being destroyed due to

Predicting how animals and communities might response to climate warming is a foremost concern of global change biologist. Ectothermic animals are considered particularly susceptible due to their body temperature and physiological performances vary acutely with environmental conditions. The response of organisms towards climate is based on their behavioural and physiological adaptation through evolutionary history (Somero 2012). Intertidal ectotherms for example are often experiencing extreme temperature fluctuations during aerial exposure, and complex morphological, physiological and behavioural adaptations to counter these conditions that may potentially buffer the effects of climate warming. In tropical mangrove forest

Climate change, as a change in weather like global warming, has attracted the attention of the public. The issue of climate change has been becoming a global focus of attention for people around the world. Most scientists think that climate change is primarily caused by human activities. Temperature and precipitation shifts directly affect biota, and scientists think that as the climate continues to change, the biodiversity in Northern Canada is particularly at risk. Because global warming can result in the decreasing of marine, freshwater and terrestrial communities, climate change has negative influences on biodiversity in Northern Canada. In order to conserve the

Over the years, the populations of many species have been affected due to human activities such as hunting and releasing fossil fuels, which seems to be the major culprit in causing climate change. Releasing these gases into the air is affecting the species because more carbon dioxide being released into the air, which causes heat to be trapped into the atmosphere. This action has caused some species to have problems to survive in the environment and decrease the population, eventually causing extinction. In some cases, species have found a way to adapt to the environment through genetic changes caused be evolution. The mechanisms of phenotypic resilience and evolutionary adaptation allows species to obtain the potential to adapt to warmer environments. Phenotypic resilience is where the species possess the ability to portray different phenotypes in a changing environment. In animals, the traits that respond to selection are migratory patterns, key morphological traits, life history traits, body size, and host preferences (Vellend et al., 2007). Overall, the question of whether the species adapt or become extinct due to climate changes varies. There is not a straightforward explanation because some populations might decreases and some populations might dramatically increase. The ecosystem and environment is too large and broad to have a specific answer.

Climate change is a common factor in what causes mammals to become endangered and later extinct. Climate change mostly caused extinction for two out of every three large mammals in the world. Some mammals that went into extinction because of global warming were: Mammoths, Arabian gazelle, Bulldog rat Central rock rat, Columbian hutia, Corozal rat, Corsican shrew, Cuban spider monkey, Curacao sloth, Dark flying fox, Darling Downs hopping mouse, Darwin’s Galapagos mouse, Dinosaurs… etc. Over the years climate change has increasingly been at fault for the massive loss of mammals dying off. Huge loses of mammals are occurring all over the world, or becoming endangered. It starts when the little mammals can’t adapt to the rapid changing of the weather then it slowly starts to affects the larger mammals. “Climate change affects the little guy first and then, through them, the bigger guys. Today we see humans taking out the bigger animals and climate change affecting the smaller animals. So we can expect to see some pretty dramatic changes in the ecosystem” (Barnosky 3).

Climate change has also had a negative impact on the aquatic life. For instance, fish normally thrive and reproduce in cool waters. Global warming results in a very high rise in temperatures; however, the effect is not normally felt since water covers more than two-thirds of the earth’s surface and therefore absorbs much of the rise in temperature. The Ocean temperatures have therefore risen to very high levels that are not conducive for reproduction of fish; this has resulted in a significant reduction in the population of fish species with others becoming extinct while others try to migrate to regions where ocean temperatures are lower (Harley et al., 2006). The reduction in the population of fish has resulted in a great imbalance in the ecosystem and food chain as other ocean creatures that would feed on fish have to look for other predators or also die.

These changes force the species to adapt to new climate patterns, if species can not evolve to live in a certain ranges of temperature, or when it actually lives dependent to a certain temperature range, then its existence is endangered. With the more intense rising of sea level and warmer ocean, the prolonged period of a shortage of water resulted threaten crops, wildlife and storage of fresh water.

As the temperature of water is rising, warm water fish are expanding into areas where was previously inhabited by coldwater species and cause coldwater species losing their habitats. When waters turning warmer due to global warming, the area that allow coldwater species to migrate is reduced, and this might cause some species extinct.