Global warming has serious consequences for plants and animals, with experts forecasting that more than 4,000 endangered species will be affected. Some researchers believe that half of all species are at risk of extinction if the temperature rises 4°C above the current level.

As climate change intensifies due to global warming, some plants and animals will decrease in numbers because they will no longer be able to obtain food or reproduce. On the other hand, some plants and animals will be able to expand to new environments, while others will have their habitats narrowed. Some plants and animals may lose their food and habitat, or they may be eaten by plants and animals that flourish in new environmental circumstances. Put simply, the existing balance will be upset, and the number of species that will become extinct may increase. Thus, global warming may have significant indirect effects on living organisms.

As previously discussed, polar bears are being hampered because they cannot hunt seals due to melting ice in the Arctic Ocean (see Episode 5). There are many other animals that have been affected by global warming. For example, the sex of sea turtles is determined by temperature. The hatchlings are females when the temperature of the beach where their eggs are laid is high, and males when it is low. If beach temperatures rise due to global warming, the number of females will increase, causing a gender imbalance and making it more difficult for the species to reproduce. The number of orangutangs in Sumatra has greatly reduced over the past 20 years due to massive forest fires caused by the El Niño phenomenon. Furthermore, they are in serious danger of extinction due to increased rainfall caused by global warming affecting the availability of fruit, their staple food.

Global warming is melting permafrost. In the Russian Arctic, permafrost melted in 2016, exposing anthrax-contaminated animal carcasses. Reindeer ate them, and the residents ate the reindeer and became infected, hospitalizing many villagers and killing one boy. Much of the permafrost has existed since before humans emerged, and may harbor unknown pathogens, posing a threat to many animals, including us humans.

episode 12
Global Warming Endangers Many Lives in Our Ecosystem