Impacts of Climate Change on Terrestrial Ecosystems and Adaptation Measures for Natural Resource Management

Abstract

Emissions from motor vehicles, power plants, deforestation, and other human sources are warming the Earth and damaging ecosystems and human well-being. Field observations from around the world have detected significant changes in terrestrial ecosystems and attributed them to climate change rather than other factors. Climate change has shifted the ranges of plants, animals, and biomes, altered the timing of life events such as plant flowering and animal migration, increased wildfires, and driven 75 frog and other amphibian species to extinction. Projections of future climate change and analyses of vulnerability indicate that unless we substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions, further warming may overwhelm the adaptive capacity of many species and ecosystems. Climate change could convert extensive land areas from one biome to another, alter global biogeochemical cycles, and isolate or drive numerous species to extinction. Natural resource managers are developing adaptation measures to help species and ecosystems cope with the impacts of climate change.