[Animals] Endangered animals and others that have disappeared due to climate change

[#Wittels-]

According to the WWF organization, the IPCC states that an average increase of 1.5 ° C can put 20-30% of species at risk of extinction

There are threats to the fauna that inhabits the earth's ecosystem, but it is very likely that global warming is the main cause of extinction of species in the 21st century. According to the organization WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), the IPCC affirms that an average increase of 1.5 ° C can put 20-30% of species at risk of extinction. In the event that the crisis runs its course and nothing is done to reverse it, if the planet warms more than 2 ° C, most ecosystems will have problems. Whether due to the thawing of the poles, rising temperatures or air pollution, climate change poses numerous dangers to the habitat of the planet's fauna and their diet and the crisis is occurring at such a speed that many species are not able to Adapt to changes. It should be noted that the extinction of certain species not only means a loss in the richness of the variety of animals that live together on planet Earth, since it can produce a domino effect in the ecosystem.

 

The loss of a predator can give rise to what is called a trophic cascade, an ecological phenomenon triggered by the extinction of a predator that can also affect prey po[CENSORED]tions and consequently cause drastic changes in the ecosystem and the food web. Until now, there are few species that have completely disappeared due to climate change, but currently the risk is such that there are a million species in danger of extinction for this reason. Some of the species in critical situations are as follows, according to the compilation of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

 

Polar Bear
There are 19 subpo[CENSORED]tions of the polar bear and, according to the latest data from the Polar Bear Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), three subpo[CENSORED]tions are in decline and it is estimated that there is a high risk of future decline due to climate change. This concern arises mainly as a result of the continuous loss of its habitat, since the sea ice each year thaws a little more due to the rise in the global average temperature, as a result of climate change. However, they also face other threats such as conflicts with humans, unsustainable hunting and impacts generated by the industry, including the risk of oil spills due to the increase in traffic of barges, tankers and cargo ships in arctic waters and that can cause great contamination of their natural habitat. It should be noted that this species plays a key role in the ecosystem, since it is located at the top of the food chain and plays an important role in the marine ecosystem.

 

Koalas
Koalas feed on a herbivorous diet and since the fauna is not the only living being in danger from climate change, the flora and the only food for these animals are also threatened. Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are lowering the nutritional value of the leaves, leading to malnutrition and starvation of the koala. On the other hand, droughts and the growing risk of forest fires caused by climate change also endanger this species. On the one hand, they force these animals to descend from the trees in search of new habitats exposing themselves to predators and, on the other, the fires also directly kill millions of animals that live in the forests, such as koalas.

Giraffes
Another animal that has been at risk from the effects of climate change on its diet is the giraffe. In this sense, the giraffe po[CENSORED]tion has decreased by 40% in the last 30 years. In addition to poaching, two of the most pressing dangers are the reduction of habitat and the decrease of acacia trees that have been their main source of nutrition, both due to climate change.

 

Sumatra tiger
According to the Red List, there are between 2,154 and 3,159 tigers in the wild worldwide and, in the last 80 years, three subspecies have already become totally extinct. Climate change has led to rising sea levels and an increased risk of forest fires, endangering already fragmented tiger po[CENSORED]tions. Specifically, the subspecies the Sumatran tiger is only found on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, and it is estimated that currently only about 400 remain and, for the reasons explained above, they are in serious danger of extinction.

 

Snow Leopard
Snow leopards are sparsely distributed in 12 Central Asian countries, from southern Russia to the Tibetan Plateau, including Mongolia, China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal, and the widespread rise in temperatures in these areas as a result Climate change endangers the habitat of these mammals. In this sense, the rise in temperatures is causing a displacement of the growth of trees towards higher altitude areas in the mountains, which is reducing the variety of their species. One of the great risks of this is the fragmentation and isolation of these leopards and the consequences it can have for their hunting. Snow leopards are the main predators in their environment and their disappearance would imply an imbalance in the ecosystem, since herbivore po[CENSORED]tions would increase causing changes in the flora and also affecting other wild animals that live in those areas.

Three species now extinct
The last time that specimens of the golden toad ('Bufo periglenes'), one of the first animals to disappear as a result of climate change, were seen in the Monteverde cloud forest in Costa Rica, in 1989, in the Monteverde cloud forest , Costa Rica, and its extinction is attributed to El Niño, a natural phenomenon that involves fluctuating ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific. Temperatures reached record highs and rainfall was the lowest causing a long drought, which put this subspecies to the test and could not adapt to atmospheric conditions. Another species that suffered the harsh consequences of the climate crisis was the lime fish. Due to their sensitivity to high temperatures, they cannot survive rising water temperatures and, due to the warming of the oceans, in 1988 they became extinct in Japan. Finally, the first mammal to become extinct due to global warming was the rodent 'Melomys rubicola', endemic to Australia. It is also known as the mosaic-tailed rat and lived on a small island that rises just three meters above sea level, called Bramble Bay. The animal was reported as extinct in 2016, due to the sharp drop in leafy plants recorded on the island, which were reduced by 97%. As explained by the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection: "The main causal factor for the extirpation of this po[CENSORED]tion was, almost certainly, the oceanic flooding in the lower areas of the key, most likely on multiple occasions during the last decade, which caused a drastic loss of habitat and perhaps also the direct death of individuals ". On low-lying islands like Bramble Bay, the rising sea levels that have occurred on the planet as a result of climate change, rising almost 20 centimeters between 1901 and 2010, pose a threat to their disappearance and the survival of their nature.

 

Link: https://www.elconfidencial.com/medioambiente/naturaleza/2021-11-08/animales-extincion-desaparecidos-cambio-climatico_3316033/