Climate change is altering the Earth’s habitats and ecosystems, putting many species at risk of global population reductions or extinction.
Assess this statement. (5 marks)
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→ Climate change is altering organisms environments across the globe, causing drastic population reductions and even extinctions of entire species.
→ One reason for sudden changes in populations is the increase in devastating and extreme weather events because of climate change. Storms, fires and large timeframes of drought initiate large death tolls in communities, eliminating individuals and drastically changing the gene pool.
→ Climate change also has many gradual changes on the environment, including a steadily increasing temperature and changes in precipitation patterns. Many organisms cannot adapt to these changes causing many to die out and even lead to climate driven extinctions.
→ One example of a changing temperature on the environment is ocean acidification. Rising temperatures have a drastic effect on marine life such as the death of many coral species and the acidification of the water makes it difficult for many crustaceans to form hard shells.
→ The ecosystems themselves also play a large role in climate change, as plants act as a climate regulator due to their ability to store carbon. However as climate change grows at an exponential rate plants cannot keep up and many also suffer to the effects of changing precipitation patterns and temperature increases and die out, resulting in less carbon storage and an increasing rate of the above effects and their consequences.
→ It is therefore accurate to state that climate change alters ecosystems worldwide causing large population declines of species and eventually climate extinctions for some.
→ Climate change is altering organisms environments across the globe, causing drastic population reductions and even extinctions of entire species.
→ One reason for sudden changes in populations is the increase in devastating and extreme weather events because of climate change. Storms, fires and large timeframes of drought initiate large death tolls in communities, eliminating individuals and drastically changing the gene pool.
→ Climate change also has many gradual changes on the environment, including a steadily increasing temperature and changes in precipitation patterns. Many organisms cannot adapt to these changes causing many to die out and even lead to climate driven extinctions.
→ One example of a changing temperature on the environment is ocean acidification. Rising temperatures have a drastic effect on marine life such as the death of many coral species and the acidification of the water makes it difficult for many crustaceans to form hard shells.
→ The ecosystems themselves also play a large role in climate change, as plants act as a climate regulator due to their ability to store carbon. However as climate change grows at an exponential rate plants cannot keep up and many also suffer to the effects of changing precipitation patterns and temperature increases and die out, resulting in less carbon storage and an increasing rate of the above effects and their consequences.
→ It is therefore accurate to state that climate change alters ecosystems worldwide causing large population declines of species and eventually climate extinctions for some.