September 2017
Dear EarthTalk: Could global
warming really already be a factor
in the evolution of wildlife species?
-- Vince Dominick, Camden, NJ
No doubt the quickly changing
climate is already triggering various
evolutionary shifts in a wide range of
species. And while we can’t be sure
just how different wildlife species will
adapt (or not), scientists are already
noticing some surprising changes as
a result of rising surface and ocean
temperatures, thanks to human-
induced global warming.
There’s proof that global warming
is shrinking wildlife species on land
and water. An October 2014 study by
scientists at Durham University in
Britain found that chamois mountain
goats in the Italian Alps weigh 25
percent less than their same age
counterparts did 30 years ago.
University of Maryland researchers
found that six out of seven species
of U.S. salamanders studied have
shrunk an average of 8 percent overall
since the 1950s, with each successive
generation shrinking in average body
size by 1 percent.
The Southwest Portland Post • 7
FEATURES
Another example comes from a
National University of Singapore
study that found that ectotherms
(toads, turtles, snakes) are also
shrinking around the world in
response to hotter climatic conditions.
A February 2017 review of scientifi c
literature on global warming’s broad
footprint on wildlife by 17 researchers
collaborating from around the world
suggests that we may actually
be underestimating how much
climate change is affecting wildlife
populations.
The analysis of 130 studies on the
ecological consequences of climate
change revealed that 47 percent of
land mammals and 23 percent of
birds—more than 700 wildlife species
overall—have already been affected
by global warming.
“There has been a massive under-
reporting of these impacts,” said
University of Queensland researcher
and study co-author, James Watson,
adding that only 7 percent of
mammals and 4 percent of birds
showing a negative response to
climate change are currently listed
as “threatened” by the IUCN, which
maintains the world’s “Red List” of
endangered species.
“We need to greatly improve
assessments of the impacts of climate
change on species right now, we need
to communicate this to wider public
and we need to ensure key decisions
makers know that something
signifi cant needs to happen now to
stop species going extinct,” warned
Watson. “Climate change is not a
future threat anymore.”
Scientists credit human-induced global warming with causing many marine
and terrestrial wildlife species — such as the chamois mountain goat of
the Italian alps — to become scrawnier with each successive generation.
(Photo by Fulvio Spada, FlickrCC)
Contacts:
Fish study, onlinelibrary.wiley.
com/doi/10.1111/gcb.13831/abstract;
goats, www.dur.ac.uk/biosciences/
about/news/?itemno=22559 ;
salamanders, onlinelibrary.wiley.
com/doi/10.1111/gcb.12550/abstract;
broad footprint, http://onlinelibrary.
wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.13831/
abstract.
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