Climate Change Facts - Biodiversity Impacts
    Share   email to friend  Envoyer à un ami par courriel    Imprimer

  • The RATE OF BIODIVERSIY LOSS is an astounding 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than a natural background extinction rate.1,2 “The current rate of species extinction far exceeds anything in the fossil record.” 3 (Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (Biological Science)) Ecosystems may be headed towards permanent damage as countries fail to achieve goals to protect animal and plant life. (UNEP, 2010)4
  • Up to 270 unique species are now being lost every day.5
  • The Earth is said by some experts to be undergoing her “sixth great extinction event” due to climate change as well as other mostly human‐caused factors.10
  • As global average temperature increase exceeds about 3.5 degrees Celsius, there may be extinctions of up to 70% of species around the globe. (IPCC) 11
New 2010 reports on species affected:  
  • Antarctic penguin populations declined more than 80% since 1975 due to loss of sea ice.6
  • Arctic caribou are in steep decline due to climate change-caused starvation as early thaws and freezing over events make plant food inaccessible.7
  • Similar to 2007 and 2009, in September 2010, tens of thousands of walruses came ashore in an unusual behavior, due to lack of sea ice where they normally rest.8
  • Migratory birds dying because of ill-timed travel that leaves them without adequate food supplies when they arrive at destinations and/or places like wetlands drying that no longer provide habitat.9
Référence
  1. Radford, T. (2004, March 19). Warning sounded on decline of species. The Guardian. Retrieved January 11, 2011 from
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2004/mar/19/taxonomy.science
  2. Whitty, J. (2007, April 30). Animal Extinction - the greatest threat to mankind. The Independent. Retrieved January 11, 2011 from
    http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/animal-extinction--the-greatest-threat-to-mankind-397939.html
  3. Romm, J. (2010, November 9). Royal Society: “There are very strong indications that the current rate of species extinctions far exceeds anything in the fossil record.” Climate Progress blog. Retrieved January 11, 2011 from
    http://climateprogress.org/2010/11/09/royal-society-rate-of-species-extinctions-far-exceeds-anything-in-the-fossil-recordo/
  4. Hance, J. (2010, May 10). Collapsing biodiversity is a ‘wake-up call for humanity’. An online acticle on the United Nations Environment Programme [UNEP] report. Mongabay.com. Retrieved January 11, 2011 from http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0510-hance_wake_up.html
  5. ibid 17.
  6. Koch, W. (2010, November 12). Global warming harms Antarctica’s penguins, book says. USA Today. Retrieved January 11, 2011 from
    http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/11/global-warming-threatens-antartica-penguins/1
  7. Struzik, E. (2010, September 23). A Troubling Decline in the Caribou Herds of the Arctic. Retrieved January 11, 2011 from Yale, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies website http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2321
  8. Goldenberg, S. (2010, September 13). The Guardian. Retrieved January 11, 2011 from
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/sep/13/walrus-haul-out-alaska
  9. Gray, R. (2010, September 5). Migratory birds decline in UK due to low African rain. The Telegraph. Retrieved January 11, 2011 from
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/7981699/Migratory-birds-decline-in-UK-due-to-low-African-rain.html
  10. Sample, I. (2009, July 28) Human activity is driving Earth’s ‘sixth great extinction event’. The Guardian. Retrieved January 11, 2011 from
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/28/species-extinction-hotspots-australia
  11. Romm, J. (2009, April 9). Time Magazine: How climate change is causing a new age of extinction. An online acticle on the (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC] report. Climate Progress blog. Retrieved January 11, 2011 from
    http://climateprogress.org/2009/04/09/time-magazine-how-climate-change-is-causing-a-new-age-of-extinction/

Related Link
 
PLANETE TERRE: NOTRE FOYER AIMANT Biodiversité en danger : La cause et la solution – partie 1 / 2
Play with flash player Play with windows media
 
PLANETE TERRE: NOTRE FOYER AIMANT Agriculture animale : menacer l’équilibre de la biosphère
Play with flash player Play with windows media
 
PLANETE TERRE: NOTRE FOYER AIMANT Le Dr. Peter Raven nous parle de la crise de la biodiversité de la planète
Play with flash player Play with windows media
 
PLANETE TERRE, NOTRE FOYER AIMANT Eaux fantômes : la disparition des poissons, dans le monde
Play with flash player Play with windows media
 
PLANETE TERRE: NOTRE FOYER AIMANT Le coupable de la rapide disparition de la biodiversité mondiale ? L’industrie de l’élevage
Play with flash player Play with windows media
 
PLANETE TERRE: NOTRE FOYER AIMANT Le mycologue Paul Stamets nous parle de la façon dont les champignons peuvent aider à sauver le monde
Play with flash player Play with windows media

  Climate Change Facts - Land & Ice Cap Impacts 
 Climate Change Facts - Atmospheric Impacts