Species have no time to adapt to global warming, they need to move – but where to?
Biodiversity has less and less places to move to when conditions change
Biodiversity live drawings – Illustration and text by Frits Ahlefeldt, DrawnJournalism.com
Climate change is coming into focus as a main driver of biodiversity loss, as many species only live in ever smaller areas, with no escape options if the temperature and living conditions change to fast
According to the latest estimates ( Ipbes.net ) More than a million species worldwide are getting closer to the edge of extinction fast. There are several reasons, but one growing concern is climate change.
As Professor Ary Hoffman write in the Australian society of Science website:
“Climate change is predicted to take place faster in the next century than at any time for at least the last 10,000 years. Coupled with other factors, such as continued land-clearing, this could mean the extinction of species at a rate even greater than when the dinosaurs disappeared around 65 million years ago.”
The climate changes we fear will hit in the next decade can be impossible to adapt to for species that have used million of years to evolve and calibrate to fit into their habitat.
One often told example is that as the temperature rise species living in valleys starts to move up the mountains for colder zones, and those higher up, moves still higher… till the mountain stop.
Drawing I made live under biodiversity conference:
See more biodiversity posts
Keywords: biodiversity, nature, biodiversitet, drawn journalism, visual journalism, illustration, drawing, journalistik, tegnet journalistik, visuel journalistik, visual journalism, biodiversityCph1
Drawn Journalism by Frits Ahlefeldt 