This level of destruction is not placing future generations first. Generations to come should inherit Earth as a place where high diversity among species exists, otherwise what are we leaving them, dogs, cats, daffodils and pondweed?

February 14, 2020
By Doyle Rice

One-third of all animal and plant species (click here) on the planet could face extinction by 2070 due to climate change, a new study warns.

Researchers studied recent extinctions from climate change to estimate how many species would be lost over the next 50 years.

Specifically, scientists from the University of Arizona studied data from 538 species at 581 sites around the world and focused on plant and animal species that were surveyed at the same sites over time, at least 10 years apart.

"By analyzing the change in 19 climatic variables at each site, we could determine which variables drive local extinctions and how much change a population can tolerate without going extinct," said Cristian Román-Palacios, of the department of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona, in a statement. 

"We also estimated how quickly populations can move to try and escape rising temperatures....

The response of species (click here) to climate change is of increasingly urgent importance. Here, we address the specific changes in climate that were associated with recent population extinctions, using data from 538 plant and animal species distributed globally. Surprisingly, extinctions occurred at sites with smaller changes in mean annual temperatures but larger increases in hottest yearly temperatures. We also evaluate whether species may survive climate change by dispersing, shifting their niches to tolerate warmer conditions, or both. Given dispersal alone, many of these species (∼57–70%) may face extinction. However, niche shifts can potentially reduce this to only 30% or less. Overall, our results show the importance of maximum temperatures for causing species extinction and niche shifts for allowing their survival....