Study: Global Warming-Related Extinctions Have Begun

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Study: Global Warming-Related Extinctions Have Begun

Tuesday , November 21, 2006, Associated Press

 

 

WASHINGTON — Animal and plant species have begun dying off or changing

sooner than predicted because of global warming, a review of hundreds of

research studies contends.

 

These fast-moving adaptations come as a surprise even to biologists and

ecologists because they are occurring so rapidly.

At least 70 species of frogs, mostly mountain-dwellers that had nowhere to

go to escape the creeping heat, have gone extinct because of climate change,

the analysis says.

 

It also reports that between 100 and 200 other cold-dependent animal

species, such as penguins and polar bears, are in deep trouble.

 

" We are finally seeing species going extinct, " said University of Texas

biologist Camille Parmesan, author of the study. " Now we've got the

evidence. It's here. It's real. This is not just biologists' intuition. It's

what's happening. "

 

Her review of 866 scientific studies is summed up in the journal Annual

Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics.

Parmesan reports seeing trends of animal populations moving northward if

they can, of species adapting slightly because of climate change, of plants

blooming earlier, and of an increase in pests and parasites.

 

Parmesan and others have been predicting such changes for years, but even

she was surprised to find evidence that it's already happening; she figured

it would be another decade away.

 

Just five years ago biologists, though not complacent, figured the harmful

biological effects of global warming were much farther down the road, said

Douglas Futuyma, professor of ecology and evolution at the State University

of New York in Stony Brook.

 

" I feel as though we are staring crisis in the face, " Futuyma said. " It's

not just down the road somewhere. It is just hurtling toward us. Anyone who

is 10 years old right now is going to be facing a very different and

frightening world by the time that they are 50 or 60. "

 

While over the past several years studies have shown problems with certain

species, animal populations or geographic areas, Parmesan's is the first

comprehensive analysis showing the big picture of global-warming induced

changes, said Chris Thomas, a professor of conservation biology at the

University of York in England.

 

While it's impossible to prove conclusively that the changes are the result

of global warming, the evidence is so strong and other supportable

explanations are lacking, Thomas said, so it is " statistically virtually

impossible that these are just chance observations. "

 

The most noticeable changes in plants and animals have to do with earlier

springs, Parmesan said.

 

The best example can be seen in earlier cherry blossoms and grape harvests

and in 65 British bird species that in general are laying their first eggs

nearly nine days earlier than 35 years ago.

 

Parmesan said she worries most about the cold-adapted species, such as

emperor penguins that have dropped from 300 breeding pairs to just nine in

the western Antarctic Peninsula, or polar bears, which are dropping in

numbers and weight in the Arctic.

 

The cold-dependent species on mountaintops have nowhere to go, which is why

two-thirds of a certain grouping of frog species have already gone extinct,

Parmesan said.

 

Populations of animals that adapt better to warmth or can move and live

farther north are adapting better than other populations in the same

species, Parmesan said.

 

" We are seeing a lot of evolution now, " Parmesan said.

However, no new gene mutations have shown themselves, not surprising because

that could take millions of years, she said.