The Effects of Global Warming on Wildlife, Weather & Crops

Global warming -- the gradual warming of the Earth due to the accumulation of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere -- has become one of the most contentious and important scientific, political and economic issues of our time. Although some debate still exists surrounding global warming, the scientific and international political community is broadly in agreement that carbon emissions are having a demonstrable effect on the planet's climate, with significant concequences for wildlife, weather and agriculture.

Wildlife

• Climate is a determining factor in the success and failure of wildlife ecosystems. The plants and animals that make up wildlife ecosystems are adapted to specific climate conditions and drastic variations in temperatures and precipitation can interrupt the feeding, reproduction and nesting patterns of certain species, potentially endangering the survival of keystone species on which the whole ecosystem depends. Fragile ecosystems like coastal and polar habitats could be particularly affected by climate change, as rising temperatures elevate sea levels, melt icecaps and alter the environments to which wildlife has adapted.

Crops

• Like natural ecosystems, the man-made ecosystems of agricultural land are designed around certain climate conditions. Crops such as wheat, corn, fruits, rice and many others depend on certain weather patterns and rain conditions in order to guarantee optimal crop yields and global warming could alter the suitability of certain areas for farming. Floods, drought or temperature changes could force farmers to abandon traditional agricultural lands, reduce yields and require large investments as farming areas and supply chains shift.

Weather

• Climate instability could cause an increase in extreme weather.

  Broad atmospheric changes like global warming have a pronounced effect on local weather. While global warming models are extremely complex and the exact effects of a warming climate on local weather are difficult to predict, most climatologists agree that global warming will generate an increase in extreme weather patterns such as storms and hurricanes, increase the frequency of flooding and droughts and accelerate a tendency toward desertification. Although the climate is generally heating, changes in sea currents and weather patterns caused by warmer atmospheric conditions could even cause certain areas to cool dramatically as the planet as a whole warms.

Uncertainty

• Although most scientists agree that the planet is warming, the extremely complicated nature of the Earth's atmosphere and the difficulty involved in modeling the exact effects of global warming on a local scale has generated a good deal of uncertainty regarding climate predictions. That uncertainty in itself presents a new problem for weather, wildlife and agriculture. In addition to the concrete and likely adverse effects of global warming on the planet, our inability to predict the consequences of warming with certainty for specific regions makes managing the risks of global warming a challenge, limiting the success of efforts to protect agricultural lands, populated areas and wildlife habitats from a changing climate.