[SustainableTompkins] [article] Global Warming Said Killing Some Species

[GayNicholson at aol.com]

Global Warming Said Killing Some Species  
By Seth Borenstein 
The  Associated Press  
Tuesday 21 November 2006  
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.  
These fast-moving adaptations come as a surprise even  to biologists and 
ecologists because they are occurring so rapidly.  
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.  
"We are finally seeing species going extinct," said  University of Texas 
biologist Camille Parmesan, author of the study. "Now we've  got the evidence. 
It's here. It's real. This is not just biologists' intuition.  It's what's 
happening."  
Her review of 866 scientific studies is summed up in  the journal Annual 
Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics.  
Parmesan reports seeing trends of animal populations  moving northward if 
they can, of species adapting slightly because of climate  change, of plants 
blooming earlier, and of an increase in pests and parasites.  
Parmesan and 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.  
Just five years ago biologists, though not  complacent, figured the harmful 
biological effects of global warming were much  farther down the road, said 
Douglas Futuyma, professor of ecology and evolution  at the State University of 
New York in Stony Brook.  
"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 over the past several years studies have shown  problems with certain 
species, animal populations or geographic areas,  Parmesan's is the first 
comprehensive analysis showing the big picture of  global-warming induced changes, 
said Chris Thomas, a professor of conservation  biology at the University of 
York in England.  
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."  
The most noticeable changes in plants and animals  have to do with earlier 
springs, Parmesan said. The best example can be seen in  earlier cherry blossoms 
and grape harvests and in 65 British bird species that  in general are laying 
their first eggs nearly nine days earlier than 35 years  ago.  
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.  
The cold-dependent species on mountaintops have  nowhere to go, which is why 
two-thirds of a certain grouping of frog species  have already gone extinct, 
Parmesan said.  
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.  
"We are seeing a lot of evolution now," Parmesan  said. However, no new gene 
mutations have shown themselves, not surprising  because that could take 
millions of years, she said.  
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Gay  Nicholson, Ph.D. 

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