9^th World Climate Change Congress

Ecosystems and Ecology

Climate change is a transforming ecosystems on an extraordinary scale, at an extraordinary pace. As each species responds to its environment changes, its interactions with the physical world and the organisms around its change too.  Climate change is happening on a global scale, but the ecological impacts are often local and differ from place to place. Living things are closely connected to their physical surroundings. Even small changes in the environment like temperature of the air, the moisture in the soil, or the salinity of the water can have significant effects. Each species is affected by such changes. Shifts in species’ ranges and shifts in phenology are the important types of ecological impacts of climate change.