Management

Ecological Impacts of Climate Change

---

The world’s climate is changing, and it will continue to change throughout the 21st century and beyond. Rising temperatures, new precipitation patterns, and other changes are already affecting many aspects of human society and the natural world. Climate change is transforming ecosystems at extraordinary rates and scales. As each species responds to its changing environment, its interactions with the physical world and the creatures around it change—triggering a cascade of impacts throughout the ecosystem, such as expansion into new areas, the intermingling of formerly non-overlapping species, and even species extinctions Climate change is happening on a global scale, but the ecological impacts are often local and vary from place to place. To illuminate how climate change has affected specific species and ecosystems, this document presents a series of examples of ecological impacts of climate change that have already been observed across the United States. Human actions have been a primary cause of the climate changes observed today, but humans are capable of changing our behavior in ways that reduce the rate of future climate change. Human actions are also needed to help wild species adapt to climate changes that cannot be avoided. Our approaches to energy, agriculture, water management, fishing, biological conservation, and many other activities will all affect the ways and extent to which climate change will alter the natural world—and the ecosystems on which we depend.

---

Availability

No copy data

Detail Information

Series Title

-

Call Number

-

Publisher

: ., 2008

Collation

1-71

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

978-0-309-12710-3

Classification

NONE

Content Type

-

Media Type

-

Carrier Type

-

Edition

-

Subject(s)

Ecological Impacts of Climate Change

Specific Detail Info

-

Statement of Responsibility

-

Other version/related

File Attachment

Comments

---

You must be logged in to post a comment