RSS Feed
Archive for May 12th, 2013
Study: Climate change will cut habitats by 2080
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 12th, 2013
USA Today: Global warming will destroy more than half of the habitats of most plants and a third of animals by 2080, biologists conclude, unless steps are taken to limit greenhouse gases.
Over the past century, average global surface temperatures have increased about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the National Academy of Sciences. This global warming is largely due to burning fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas, which retain heat and warm the atmosphere. Temperatures worldwide are expected...
Posted in 
Climate Change Will Cause Widespread Global-Scale Loss of Common Plants and Animals, Researchers Predict
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 12th, 2013
ScienceDaily: More than half of common plants and one third of the animals could see a dramatic decline this century due to climate change, according to research from the University of East Anglia.
This means that geographic ranges of common plants and animals will shrink globally and biodiversity will decline almost everywhere.
Plants, reptiles and particularly amphibians are expected to be at highest risk. Sub-Saharan Africa, Central America, Amazonia and Australia would lose the most species of plants...
Canada: Cracks in the house? Climate change dries the ground we stand on
Posted by Ottawa Citizen: Kelly Egan on May 12th, 2013
Ottawa Citizen: We learn from Saturday’s paper that carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, is at its highest concentration in the atmosphere in three million years.
Over shouts of “We’re No. 1!”, it might be opportune to mention an unexplored consequence of climate change: our houses are cracking up.
Ottawa is built, with some exceptions, on a vast stretch of what the experts call “sensitive clay soil”, usually referred locally as leda, the old basin of the Champlain Sea.
During a prolonged drought in...
Climate change forecast to shrink habitat of common plants, animals
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 12th, 2013
Reuters: The habitats of many common plants and animals will shrink dramatically this century unless governments act quickly to cut rising greenhouse gas emissions, scientists said on Sunday after studying 50,000 species around the world. The scientists from Britain, Australia and Colombia said plants, amphibians and reptiles were most vulnerable as global temperatures rise and rainfall patterns change. About 57 percent of plants and 34 percent of animal species were likely to lose more than half the area...
Life on Earth under threat from CO2 levels, say scientists
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 12th, 2013
Independent: There will be a dramatic global decline in the number of animal and plant species this century if the world continues to procrastinate over measures to cut carbon dioxide emissions to limit climate change, a study has found.
Current CO2 emissions are currently tracking on the highest trajectory envisaged by climate scientists. That means if nothing is done to reduce emissions significantly over the coming decades, over half of common plants and one-third of the animals could see a serious decline,...
On the Brink: Climate Change Endangers Common Species
Posted by LiveScience: Douglas Main on May 12th, 2013
LiveScience: A wide variety of plants and animals are likely to become much less common if something isn't done to avert the worst effects of a warming climate, new research suggests.
Under a "business as usual" scenario, where greenhouse gas emissions aren't significantly reduced, about 50 percent of plants and one-third of animals are likely to vanish from half of the places they are now found by 2080, said Rachel Warren, a researcher at the University of East Anglia in England. These losses could lead to...
Common plants, animals threatened by climate change, study says
Posted by LA Times: Neela Banerjee on May 12th, 2013
LA Times: Climate change could lead to the widespread loss of common plants and animals around the world, according to a new study released Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change.
The study's authors looked at 50,000 common species. They found that more than half the plants and about a third of the animals could lose about 50% of their range by 2080 if the world continues its current course of rising greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate change affects the availability of nutrition and water for animals...
Steep decline for plants and animals
Posted by BBC: Matt McGrath on May 12th, 2013
BBC: More than half of common plant species and a third of animals could see a serious decline in their habitat range because of climate change.
New research suggests that biodiversity around the globe will be significantly impacted if temperatures rise more than 2C.
But the scientists say that the losses can be reduced if rapid action is taken to curb greenhouse gases.
The paper is published in the journal, Nature Climate Change.
An international team of researchers looked at the impacts...
Indonesia’s tropical forests set to benefit from further clearing ban
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on May 12th, 2013
Guardian: A ban on the clearing of tropical forests in Indonesia is on the verge of being extended in a historic deal that could protect some of the world's most threatened habitats.
Indonesia is home to about a third of the world's remaining tropical forests, which provide a habitat for endangered species such as the orangutan and Sumatran tiger.
For the past two years the government has imposed a moratorium on felling forests in an effort to halt the deforestation that has laid waste to much of the...
Gas boom may be mixed blessing for climate change
Posted by South China Morning Post: Patrick Lui on May 12th, 2013
South China Morning Post: Thanks to its controversial nature, most people have some knowledge of shale gas and fracking, the method used to extract it.
As fracking has boomed in recent years, energy experts have woken up to another unconventional source of natural gas. It is methane hydrate, and its potential reserves are huge.
Methane hydrate is formed naturally when methane gas, produced by microbial action or the effects of earth's heat and pressure on buried organic matter, combines with water at moderate pressures...