<p>While we can bicker about what extent the change in climate pattern is man made- I don’t think we can disagree that extinctions of plant and animal life have been impacted by human intervention. ( both pro & con)</p>
<p><a href=“You’ve requested a page that no longer exists | Stanford News ”>You’ve requested a page that no longer exists | Stanford News ;
<p><a href=“http://www.fws.gov/contaminants/Issues/Pollinators.cfm[/url] ”>http://www.fws.gov/contaminants/Issues/Pollinators.cfm</a> ;http://www.birdlife.org/action/science/indicators/rli.html[/url] ”>http://www.birdlife.org/action/science/indicators/rli.html</a></p> ;
<p><a href=“http://www.worldmigratorybirdday.org/2007/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=31[/url] ”>http://www.worldmigratorybirdday.org/2007/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=31</a></p> ;
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One of the major effects of climate change is the loss of habitats. The habitats migratory birds depend on are in danger to change and to disappear due to increasing temperatures, flooding or desertification. Coastal wetland areas that migrating birds use for nesting and foraging are an example. During their migration, birds rely on these areas to provide food and resting places. There they can refuel and repose before continuing their long journeys. Rising sea levels due to climate change cause the flooding of these habitats and they are lost for birds and other animals. Without these stop-over places, the birds have insufficient reserves to continue and have difficulties completing their journeys.</p>
<p>The loss of habitats continues through increasing desertification for example of the Sahel region. Increasing populations lead to a demand for more land to grow crops and graze animals and to the intensified use of land. This contributes to further land degradation and leads to expansion of desert areas. Climate change worsens the effect by a decrease in rainfall in the Sahel region. As a consequence of the dryness, the desert expands further. The crossing of the Sahara is one of the most challenging parts of the birds’ journey because they have no possibility of resting. The Sahara expansion, combined with destruction of the habitats, gradually makes it nearly impossible for African-Eurasian migrants to cross this ecological barrier successfully. A lot of them will fail and perish.</p>
<p>Other habitats, among them many breeding habitats, are also strongly affected, for example the Siberian tundra where many goose species breed. They use the tundra’s rocky bedrock for breeding and raising their offspring. However, climate change is rapidly changing its vegetation structure: The increasing temperatures make the permafrost soil thaw, enabling forest to expand into the tundra. This new green carpet changes the habitat completely and makes it impossible for the geese to breed. Experts predict a loss of 10 to 93 % of the breeding habitat area of different arctic goose species as a result of this forest expansion.
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