Understanding Climate Change and Biodiversity

Climate change involves significant alterations in global temperatures and weather patterns over time. Human activities, particularly fossil fuel burning, amplify natural greenhouse effects, leading to global warming.

Biodiversity encompasses the variety of life on Earth. It includes genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity, each crucial for resilience and providing ecosystem services essential for human survival.

Warming temperatures shift habitats, forcing species to migrate. Those unable to adapt or move face extinction. For example, Arctic species like polar bears struggle as sea ice melts.

Climate change affects genetic diversity by creating population bottlenecks. This reduces genetic variation, which is vital for species to adapt to changing environments, potentially leading to widespread extinction.

Coral reefs, often called 'rainforests of the sea,' are dying due to ocean acidification and warming. This endangers over a million marine species that depend on them.

Climate change alters the distribution of disease vectors like mosquitoes, introducing illnesses to new regions. This can affect human, wildlife, and livestock health, disrupting ecosystems.

To combat biodiversity loss, strategies include establishing protected areas, restoring degraded ecosystems, and aiding species migration. Landscape corridors and assisted gene flow are innovative conservation approaches.

Some polar bears now eat dolphins due to changing ice patterns, an unprecedented dietary shift driven by climate change.