What are some species that have been wiped out by climate change?

Question

Im just starting to read about the subject and still don't know much about it. I wondered if any animals have been wiped out because of global changes yet and if so, how?

Also can anybody give me a good link to a website on the subject which could benifit a cocerned yet ignorant boy like me?

Thank you.

Answer 1

woolly mammoth, saber-toothed cat

(Not the dinosaur...that was a meteor strike)

Edit:  Which part of my answer are people confused about, Ice Age species not surviving the end of the Ice Age, or the fact dinosaur fossils end at the K-T boundary??

http://live.psu.edu/story/31284

http://ib.berkeley.edu/labs/barnosky/New...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_c...

Answer 2

well polar bears are in the process of being wiped out.the ice caps are melting and it makes it that polar bears have to swim further and when they find(if they do) a piece of ice that can support them they are to tired to Hunt and usually die of starvation.

Answer 3

It is accepted that the intelentus humanus will disappear as the water inundates the earth from the rapidly melting ice cap which is estimated  by some to be 3/4 gone now and fresh water is disappearing the Mississippi, Des Moines, Cedar and Iowa rivers in the midwest are all just about bone dry and people are begging to hoard water in their basements and garages

Answer 4

Some sea birds are showing signs of decline due to climate change.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24986904/

Answer 5

Actually many species have gone into extinction do to climate change since life first developed on our planet.

The number of extinct species may actually be greater than the number of species which currently exist!

This includes everything from microscopic organisms to dinosaurs.

With some larger species like the Woolly Mammoth, the extinction occurred do to rapid temperature increases which destroyed their habitat.

The extinction of the dinosaurs seems to have been caused by loss of vegetation also(possibly caused by a meteor strike), which caused the entire 'food chain' to collapse, at least for most land based mammals.

One was caused by global warming and one was caused by a period of global cooling and lack of enough sunlight to allow enough vegetation to support the entire food chain.

Every species on our planet is susceptible to to potential extinction.

It depends on the extent of the extinction .

If all life forms were to become extinct then evolution would have to begin from scratch.

Once the planet became stable enough to begin the entire process over again, something like mankind would again develop after a few billion years.

Please be careful about any websites which you may find however.

I have heard some extremely outrageous claims about yearly extinctions which range from 3,000 to 30,000!

These are NOT based on any scientific evidence whatsoever!

Answer 6

None, and most species have gone through this before, since this isn't a new thing that's happening to our planet.

Google - Glaciation periods/inter-glaciation periods, Ice Ages and the Medieval Warm Period.

A couple more things for new people to realize, one all heat comes from the Sun and two they started measuring the global average temperature when the planet was coming out of a long mini ice age.

Answer 7

Actually, there are none, though the doomsday cult speculates varying percentages of lost species by whatever year happens to be fashionable on a given day.

Emmy.... please don't tell me that you've fallen for the 'Poor Polar Bear' scam!!  That is a total load of ....... nonsense!

In 1950, let us not forget, there were about 5,000 polar bears. Now there are 25,000.  A person can play with the math all that they want..... the point is that 25,000 is MORE than 5,000!!!

Answer 8

the purple wigged lion of Petridishovnatopia

Answer 9

First off, I'd like to address the comment made by BB.  The polar bear situation is more complex than most realize.  There are many different populations, and some are obviously more stable than others.  Hence different people pulling facts and lobbing them as they please.

http://actionbioscience.org/environment/...

But to answer your question: In 1999, the death of the last Golden Toad in Central America may have marked the first documented species extinction driven by climate change.

Scientists predict 9-52% of all terrestrial species (1 million plants and animals) will be on an irreversible path to extinction by 2050. The planet's 25 biodiversity "hotspots" are especially vulnerable to climate impacts. These special places provide homes to 44% of the world's plants and 35% of its vertebrates, in less than 1.4% of its land area.

In North America, the pika may be one of the first mammals to fall victim to global warming if heat-trapping emissions are not reduced soon.

Keep reading, knowledge empowers.