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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 .
Climate change and the associated changing weather patterns occurring worldwide have a direct effect on biology, population ecology, and the population of eruptive insects, such as the mountain pine beetle. This is because temperature is a factor which determines insect development and population success. [87]
The effect of area on biodiversity patterns has been shown to be scale-dependent, having the strongest effect among species with small geographical ranges compared to those species with large ranges who are affected more so by other factors such as the mid-domain and/or temperature.
Relative to now, key areas for wildlife will retain less of their biodiversity under 2 °C (3.6 °F) of global warming, and even less under 4.5 °C (8.1 °F). [1] There are several plausible pathways that could lead to plant and animal species extinction from climate change.
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.
There have been many claims about biodiversity's effect on the ecosystem services, especially provisioning and regulating services. [138] Some of those claims have been validated, some are incorrect and some lack enough evidence to draw definitive conclusions. [138] Ecosystem services have been grouped in three types: [138]
Biodiversity loss has bad effects on the functioning of ecosystems. This in turn affects humans, [45] because affected ecosystems can no longer provide the same quality of ecosystem services, such as crop pollination, cleaning air and water, decomposing waste, and providing forest products as well as areas for recreation and tourism. [122]
A similar pattern, known as the latitudinal diversity gradient, describes an increase in biodiversity from the poles to the equator. While the EDG generally follows the LDG (i.e., high elevations in tropical regions have greater biodiversity than high elevations in temperate regions), the LDG does not account for elevational changes.