Climate change and nature
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Climate change is already affecting nature in many parts of the world. Rising temperatures affect plants and animals directly, and climate impacts such as changes in rainfall patterns and ocean currents also disrupt the natural world. Ocean acidification is a growing threat to marine life.
Climate change adds to other factors affecting plants and animals, such as loss of habitat, competition from invasive species and disease. Altogether, species are going extinct at the fastest rate known in Earth history.
Global trends
Species are going extinct at a rate that may be 1,000 times faster than the natural rate, leading to warnings that we are experiencing the ‘Sixth great extinction’ in Earth history.
Climate change is one among many factors driving this trend. Others include habitat loss, wildlife trade, pollution and over-extraction. A recent assessment of 16,857 species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature found that up to 9% of all birds, 15% of amphibians an...
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