Climate departure at some point in the relatively near future is inevitable. We hope that this analysis will bring home the clear message that change is on its way, and that it will occur soon, said co-author Abby Frazier. Polar zones are the canary in the coal mine of climate change, but on average, tropical locations will reach their climate departures 15 years earlier than the rest of the world. All of the locations where the impacts will occur earliest—for instance, under the baseline scenario, New Guinea in 2020, Jamaica in 2023, Equatorial Guinea in 2024—sit at lower latitudes. Mora said that this is particularly troubling for a couple of reasons. First, the tropics are home to the greatest diversity of species on the planet, he said. These species are adapted to a stable climate, and thus its very easy for these small changes to exceed what a species can tolerate. Past studies have already shown that tropical species like coral are pushing up against their environmental limits. Second, because the worlds population is disproportionately concentrated in the tropics, unprecedented climate conditions will impact a larger percentage of the worlds population. news.nationalgeographic/news/2013/10/131009-climate-change-worldwide-cities-science/
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 13:27:28 +0000
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