Our planet’s ecosystems are at the moment encountering an unprecedented danger from a mix of climate change, extreme weather, and certain human activities, new research says.
A paper published on Monday has showcased more than 100 places where tropical forests and coral reefs have been touched by climate radicals, such as floods, hurricanes, droughts, heatwaves, and fires. The research provides a synopsis of how these different ecosystems are facing tremendous pressure from weather radicals, climate change, and particular human activities.
Climate Change Affects The Ecosystem
“Tropical forests and coral reefs are essential for global biodiversity, so it is extremely worrying that they are increasingly affected by both climate disturbances and human activities,” said lead researcher Filipe França, from the Embrapa Amazônia Oriental in Brazil and Lancaster University.
According to the research’s synopsis, climate change is initiating more frequent and powerful cyclonic storms like hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons in places already impacted by this kind of weather, such as Central America, the Caribbean, Australia, most of Asia, the Pacific Islands, and East Africa.
“A range of post-hurricane ecological consequences have been recorded in tropical forests: the destruction of plants by these weather extremes affects the animals, birds, and insects that rely on them for food and shelter,” Guadalupe Peralta, from Canterbury University in New Zealand, explained in a statement.
Climate-Adaption Methods are Needed
The experts urge a broad range of climate-adaption actions to avoid further losses at the ecosystem degree. “Conserving the hyperdiverse biota of tropical forests and coral reefs for future generations will require much greater cooperation between nations and the involvement of a broader range of stakeholders in the development of solutions,” the researchers wrote in the paper’s conclusion.
Joice Ferreira, from the Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, said: “To achieve successful climate-mitigation strategies, we need ‘action-research’ approaches that engage local people and institutions and respect the local needs and diverse socio-ecological conditions in the tropics.” The study was published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society and was led by scientists from universities and research institutes in Brazil, United Kingdom, and New Zealand.
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