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The effects of climate change on plant biodiversity can be predicted by using various models, for example bioclimatic models. [5] [6] Habitats may change due to climate change. This can cause non-native plants and pests to impact native vegetation diversity. [7]
However, the speed of recent climate change is very fast. Due to this rapid change, for example cold-blooded animals (a category which includes amphibians, reptiles and all invertebrates) may struggle to find a suitable habitat within 50 km of their current location at the end of this century (for a mid-range scenario of future global warming). [6]
A related phenomenon driven by climate change is woody plant encroachment, affecting up to 500 million hectares globally. [218] Climate change has contributed to the expansion of drier climate zones, such as the expansion of deserts in the subtropics. [219] The size and speed of global warming is making abrupt changes in ecosystems more likely ...
Some animal species use bioaccumulation as a mode of defense: by consuming toxic plants or animal prey, an animal may accumulate the toxin, which then presents a deterrent to a potential predator. One example is the tobacco hornworm, which concentrates nicotine to a toxic level in its body as it consumes tobacco plants. Poisoning of small ...
Key factors include anthropogenic eutrophication, global climate change such as increased temperature and light or global warming due to an increase in ozone depleting substances (e.g., CO 2, N 2 O, etc.), and other biotic and abiotic factors responsible for the worldwide bloom incidence.
Furthermore, climate change may disrupt the ecology among interacting species, via changes on behaviour and phenology, or via climate niche mismatch. [9] The disruption of species-species associations is a potential consequence of climate-driven movements of each individual species in opposite directions.
Through photosynthesis, plants use CO 2 from the atmosphere, water from the ground, and energy from the sun to create sugars used for growth and fuel. [22] While using these sugars as fuel releases carbon back into the atmosphere (photorespiration), growth stores carbon in the physical structures of the plant (i.e. leaves, wood, or non-woody stems). [23]
This is because climate change increases droughts and heat waves that eventually inhibit plant growth on land, and soils will release more carbon from dead plants when they are warmer. [ 75 ] [ 76 ] The rate at which oceans absorb atmospheric carbon will be lowered as they become more acidic and experience changes in thermohaline circulation ...