6. Ecosystem sensitivity
Climate Change and Biodiversity Conservation
A doubling of atmospheric CO2
concentrations from preindustrial levels by around the middle
of the next century implies a global average rate of warming in
excess of the 0.1°C
per decade. This has often been quoted as an ecological threshold
for severe impacts of climate change on ecosystems. In fact, this
target is dangerously permissive in terms of environmental effects,
because adverse impacts on ecosystems and species would occur
at rates lower 0.1°C
per decade. Many species and ecosystems will exhibit nonlinear
responses to climate change, and a range of thresholds, varying
in scale and consequence, can be identified along a response curve.
Certain types of habitat are known to be especially vulnerable,
even to minor changes in climate.
Many species and ecosystems will exhibit
nonlinear responses to climate change
|
Back to the previous page
|