Friday, 9 September 2016

Climatic effects on species- range and behaviour

Every species has particular optimum environmental conditions for survival. As climate alters they either:

  • Migrate (invading a new area and mixing with formerly non-overlapping species. This can lead to knock-on effects throughout the ecosystem and can cause extinctions)
  • Adapt their behaviour
Changes in species distribution- Spatial
  • Killer whales with tall dorsal fin are moving into previosuly ice-bound Artic waters and siplacing bowhead whales
  • Adelie penguin rookeries being replaced by Gentoo penguins on the Antartic peninsulars
  • 60 species of butterfly have moved north in Europe, e.g. Polygonia comma butterfly is spreading north in UK at a rate of 10km a year
  • Concern that pests of species are linked with diseases could spread more widely, e.g. Anopheles mosquito which carries Malaria
Changes in species physiology and behaviour- Tempral
  • Shifts in Phenology (timing of biological activities that take place seasonally)- migrant birds, butterflies and plants are arriving earlier.
Changes in physiology and behaviour- Tempral
  • Polar bears find it difficult to hunt seals during the summer ice-free periods. As the Artic warms the Polar bears have become underweight as they have a shorter amount of time toi hunt for food.

No comments:

Post a Comment