Species Dying
WASHINGTON -
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.
At least 70 species of frogs, mostly mountain-dwellers that had nowhere to go to
escape the creeping heat, have gone extinct because of climate change, the
analysis says. It also reports that between 100 and 200 other cold-dependent
animal species, such as penguins and polar bears are in deep trouble.
A review of 866 scientific studies is summed up in the journal Annual Review
of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics.
Others have been predicting such changes for years, but even she
was surprised to find evidence that it‘s already happening; she figured it would
be another decade away.
"I feel as though we are staring crisis in the face," Futuyma said. "It‘s not
just down the road somewhere. It is just hurtling toward us. Anyone who is 10
years old right now is going to be facing a very different and frightening world
by the time that they are 50 or 60."
While it‘s impossible to prove conclusively that the changes are the result of
global warming, the evidence is so strong and other supportable explanations are
lacking, Thomas said, so it is "statistically virtually impossible that these
are just chance observations."
Parmesan said she worries most about the cold-adapted species, such as emperor
penguins that have dropped from 300 breeding pairs to just nine in the western
Antarctic Peninsula, or polar bears, which are dropping in numbers and weight in
the Arctic.
Populations of animals that adapt better to warmth or can move and live farther
north are adapting better than other populations in the same species, Parmesan
said.