Scientist: Warming will end some species - AP

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Posted on Sat, Mar. 31, 2007

Scientist: Warming will end some species
Associated Press

From the micro to the macro, from plankton in the oceans to polar bears in the
far north and seals in the far south, global warming has begun changing life on
Earth, international scientists will report next Friday.

"Changes in climate are now affecting physical and biological systems on every
continent," says a draft obtained by The Associated Press of a report on
warming's impacts, to be issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC), the authoritative U.N. network of 2,000 scientists and more
than 100 governments.

-snip-

"Hundreds of species have already changed their ranges, and ecosystems are
being disrupted," said University of Michigan ecologist Rosina Bierbaum, former
head of the U.S. IPCC delegation. "It is clear that a number of species are
going to be lost."

The IPCC draft estimates that if temperatures rise approximately 2 to 4 degrees
Fahrenheit more, one-third of species will be lost from their current range,
either moved elsewhere or vanished.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/breaking_news/17006917.htm

[emmadoggy]

1. .

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[Vulture]

2. ...and create new ones.

That said, changing ranges itself is not such a huge deal (though it is an inconvenience to farmers). This happens constantly at a pretty rapid pace all the time independent of global warming and always has.

[roguevalley]

5. well, given that our polar bears are drowning, maybe a new species

will be bears with pontoons. I loathe these people.

[Vulture]

8. Actually...

Polar bears and brown ("grizzly") bears are so closely related that they sometimes interbreed in the wild; they appear to be a niche specialization of the more ubiquitous brown bear. It sucks that they are drowning, but their loss of habitat was inevitable even without human involvement.

[Dogmudgeon]

7. There's a die-off it progress

A huge number of species have died off in the last fifty years or so. Human instigation was not necessary for all of their disappearances, but it was involved in many. There has been no efflorescence of new species to replace them.

The last time there was a die-off this profound was at 55 MYA; the "Miocene Die-Off" IIRC. Before that, the K-T event at 65 MYA. Only this time, there have been neither comet impacts, massive volcanism, or other catastrophic events. (Though that is subject to interpretation.)

--p!

[TomClash]

3. Will the Bushes be one of those "species?" nt

[kenny blankenship]

4. Republicans?

[cal04]

6. Climate report maps out ‘highway to extinction’

Animal and plant species have begun dying off or changing sooner than predicted because of global warming, a review of hundreds of research studies contends. Biologist Camille Parmesan of the University of Texas said she worries most about cold-adapted species, such as polar bears, which are dropping in numbers and weight in the Arctic.

Dire predictions includes loss of species, increasing scarcity of water
A key element of the second major report on climate change being released Friday in Belgium is a chart that maps out the effects of global warming with every degree of temperature rise, most of them bad.

There’s one bright spot: A minimal heat rise means more food production in northern regions of the world.

However, the number of species going extinct rises with the heat, as does the number of people who may starve, or face water shortages, or floods, according to the projections in the draft report obtained by The Associated Press

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17889856/