The Effects of Global Warming on Biodiversity - Paper Example

Introduction

There is a strong link between biodiversity and the climate change. Since the beginning of the earth, there has been a series of changing climatic conditions and the consequent changes in the ecosystem (Herzog, 2015). The climate change dramatically influences the behaviour and patterns of the ecosystem. Various species of animals and plants come and go. The global warming influences the ability of species and the ecosystem as a whole to adapt to the ever-changing climatic conditions and as a result, has led to a continuous loss of the earth's rich biodiversity.

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The rapid change in climate and loss of biodiversity in the ecosystem is specifically a significant risk to human security as it causes a significant change in the primary food chain which we entirely depend on. Due to the rapid climatic changes, there are great fluctuations in the levels of oceans and possible disappearance of water sources which. As a result, the human medicines extracted from plants may be very difficult to obtain. Apart from the recession and disappearance of the water sources, the following are other significant concerns of global warming on the earth's ecosystem. According to the United Nation's Global Biodiversity Outlook, global warming is already affecting the composition of the earth's ecosystem and may pose more serious negative impacts on both plants and animals in the future decades (Herzog, 2015). For example, the thawing of ice in the Arctic and the Antarctic seas threatens the biodiversity seriously over the whole biomes in those regions and beyond. Moreover, the increased levels of the carbon dioxide gas in the earth's atmosphere causes acidification of the ocean water thereby, endangering the life of plants and animals living in the ocean (Maes, 2013).

Under the current conditions of the climate change, the earth's ecosystem is continually showing the undesirable impacts. Apart from the high temperatures, the weather conditions are ever-changing in such aspects as the patterns of rainfall. The drought in some parts of the world caused by the global warming hinders the growth of plants and animals, both within the soil or on the soil surface. The hot weather threatens the life of animals that cannot easily tolerate high temperatures; this may lead to their extinction over time thereby, causing an imbalance in the composition of the ecosystem. Considering the massive changes in the climatic conditions, there is a lot of losses for some species of plants and animals, and the projected effects of global warming might be very pathetic for the coming decades (Herzog, 2015).

Even though some few plant or animal species may be favoured by the global warming, the rapid nature by which the climate change occurs may become such a dangerous effect on most of the species that they would not manage to adjust at such a faster rate. As a result, the only species that can comfortably adapt to the prevailing conditions of the environment will survive while the rest may face extinction over an extended period (Maes, 2013). With the extinction of species in the ecosystem, the balance of the biodiversity is tampered with, and there, the earth's ecosystem may have to undergo some structural adjustments to keep balanced. In that manner, numerous plant or animal species with aquatic habitats will be at the high-end edge of the risk of extinction.

The rate of global warming in the high latitudes, the Arctic and the Antarctic shows the highest rates, the worst of it taking place at the Arctic sea where there is not just warming, but also the highest rate of reduction in the age and the thickness of ice. The rapid rate of melting ice increases the volume of the ocean water in the Arctic sea. In fact, the rate at which the ice melts in the Arctic sea by far surpasses the scientific estimation (Maes, 2013). Now, the melting of ice causes inconveniences to the animals that live and depends on the ice in the Arctic for their survival. An excellent example of the affected animal is the polar bear; it depends on the sea ice. Apart from the polar bear, there are many other small animals that live and depend on the polar ice. According to the United Nation's Global Biodiversity Outlook, once the ice melts, it merely means a possible loss of the entire biome. The loss occurs as a result of difficulty faced by such animals to adapt to the iceless environments after the melting of ice. According to the study, there are many species living either under or over the Arctic ice such as the algae that reside under the massive weights of ice throughout their life cycle (Herzog, 2015). The other species that depend on the Arctic ice include the invertebrates, fish, birds, and other marine mammals. All these animals form part of the vast Arctic food chain. Suppose the ongoing melting ice proceeds in that trend for a long time till most of the ice is molten into the water, the food chain that exists in this environment shall automatically be tampered with. The breakage of the food chain is caused by the inability of such animals to adjust to fit the rapidly changing global warming effects. The high temperatures of the earth's atmosphere are, therefore, a grave matter that should be carefully considered to avoid losing more of the species of precious animals and plants that either directly or indirectly nourish our food chain. Due to the rising temperatures, the Arctic ice undergoes continuous thawing and refreezing every year in a varying pattern which mostly continues to rise every decade. According to the report released by the Global Biodiversity Outlook, the thawing ice at the Arctic does not only affects the Arctic region but also extends massively to affecting event the biodiversity beyond the Arctic region (Pearson, 2011).

The global warming which causes massive thawing of ice at the Polar Regions takes away the earth's cooler. Ice, being white, reflects much of the sunlight and heat hence, making it difficult to accumulate a lot of heat. However, when these ice melt, the water which is relatively darker as compared to the ice, absorbs a lot of the heat energy from the sun thereby, increasing further its temperature and consequently intensifying the rate of thawing of the polar ice and also the high inland temperatures which may possibly cause the loss of tundra (Pearson, 2011). Additionally, it is known that when ice covers the water surface, it prevents the penetration of sunlight to the deeps of the ocean. Hence, the ice cover acts to regulate the ocean temperature. Now, what happens when the ice melts is as follows; the water is left bare, it absorbs a lot of heat from the sun which raises the temperature of the ocean water. When the temperature of the ocean water is very high, the salinity of the seawater also increases. It, therefore, causes undesirable conditions in the ocean since high salinity leads to the adverse changes in the primary productivity and the composition of species of the fish and planktons that live under the water in the ocean. The high salinity of ocean water and the high temperature may also cause very large-scale variations in the general circulation of the sea which causes very significant effects to the biodiversity outside the Arctic region (Herzog, 2015).

The high levels of poisonous gases majorly cause the global warming in the atmosphere such as the carbon dioxide gas. The carbon dioxide gas does not only cause the rising temperatures of our planet but also gets dissolved in the rainwater in the sky, falls as acid rain and increases the acidity of the ocean water. Now, the increase in the acidity of the ocean water disrupts the normal functioning of the biodiversity of the aquatic plants and animals. The acidity of the ocean water greatly interferes with the ability of the aquatic plants and animals to make skeletons and shells which are normally made of the calcium carbonate; this is because the calcium carbonate readily dissolves in the acidic water. Therefore, the shells which are already formed get dissolved by the acidic water (Maes, 2013).

Apart from the effects of the global warming on the aquatic biodiversity, scientists have also found out that the ongoing trend of climate change also threatens the life of the inland organisms such as the lizards. According to a research, the climate change is very capable of wiping out more than 20% of the world's lizard population in the next few decades (Herzog, 2015). Based on that research, it was found that the climate change has significantly compressed the lizards beyond their extinction threshold.

Conclusion

The effects of global warming on biodiversity are very significant enough to push for the right course of action to be taken (Pearson, 2011). It ranges from breaking the food chains, killing some species in the aquatic environments, increasing the salinity and temperature of the ocean water which significantly affects the primary production of algae, planktons, fish and the consequent interruption of the normal functioning of the aquatic plants and animals such as dissolving the calcium carbonate components including the animal shells or skeletons (Maes, 2013).

References

In Root, T. L., In Hall, K. R., In Herzog, M. P., & In Howell, C. A. (2015). Biodiversity in a changing climate: Linking science and management in conservation.

Maes, F. (2013). Biodiversity and climate change: Linkages at international, national and local levels.

Pearson, R. G., & American Museum of Natural History. (2011). Driven to extinction: The impact of climate change on biodiversity. New York: Sterling.