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There is an ongoing decline in plant biodiversity, just like there is ongoing biodiversity loss for many other life forms. One of the causes for this decline is climate change. [1] [2] [3] Environmental conditions play a key role in defining the function and geographic distributions of plants.
[2] [3] Climate change represents long-term changes in temperature and average weather patterns. [4] [5] This leads to a substantial increase in both the frequency and the intensity of extreme weather events. [6] As a region's climate changes, a change in its flora and fauna follows. [7]
Some climate change effects: wildfire caused by heat and dryness, bleached coral caused by ocean acidification and heating, environmental migration caused by desertification, and coastal flooding caused by storms and sea level rise. Effects of climate change are well documented and growing for Earth's natural environment and human societies. Changes to the climate system include an overall ...
In fact, nearly all of the irreversible biodiversity loss to date has been caused by other anthropogenic pressures such as habitat destruction. [11] [12] [13] Yet, its effects are certain to become more prevalent in the future. As of 2021, 19% of species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species are already being impacted by climate change. [14]
The diversity of species and genes in ecological communities affects the functioning of these communities. These ecological effects of biodiversity in turn are affected by both climate change through enhanced greenhouse gases, aerosols and loss of land cover [citation needed], and biological diversity, causing a rapid loss of biodiversity and extinctions of species and local populations.
The increased temperature and shorter duration of cold temperature will increase the probability of invasive species in the ecosystem, because the winter hypoxia that prevents the species' survival will be eliminated. [20] This is the case with the brook trout that is an invasive species in lakes and streams in Canada.
The loss of biodiversity may not directly affect humans, but the indirect effects of losing many species as well as the diversity of ecosystems in general are enormous. When biodiversity is lost, the environment loses many species that perform valuable and unique roles in the ecosystem.
The more trees that are removed equals larger effects of climate change which, in turn, results in the loss of more trees. [13] Forests cover 31% of the land area on Earth. Every year, 75,700 square kilometers (18.7 million acres) of the forest is lost. [14] There was a 12% increase in the loss of primary tropical forests from 2019 to 2020. [15]