Past Climate Change
Coring Glacial Ice
Ice Core Data
Pollen core data collection
Pollen Core Data
Distribution of North American Trees in past 16,000 years
Black-tailed prairie dog
Northern bog lemming
Eastern chipmunk
Global Ice Coverage Last Ice Age
Rainforests in: a. Glacial period, b. Inter-glacial period
Globalcarboncycle
Change in Average Global Temperature
Statistics and climate change
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=e0vj-0imOLw
Surface temperature trends from 1800-2009
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2011/oct/20/berkeley-earth-climate-change-video
Model predictions of global temperature increase
Predicted surface change 1960-2060
Current distributions of biomes
Predictions for biomes after global warming
The Earth Ice Free
Global Ice Coverage Last Ice Age
Will species be able to survive current climate change?
• Maybe
• Maybe not
New Complications with Climate Change
1. Current species and populations are already stressed by habitat loss and environmental degradation
2. Habitat loss will make it harder for species to migrate to new areas
3. Global temperature may increase to temperatures that are much greater than species experienced in the past
4. Rate of global climate change is probably faster than in geologic past
Pikas may run out of mountaintop
Habitat Loss
Orange County, California
Habitat Loss
• Habitat is the physical and biological environment used by an individual, a population or a species
• Habitat degradation is the process by which habitat quality for a given species is diminished
• Habitat loss occurs when the habitat quality for a given species is so low that the environment can no longer support the species
Ecosystem Loss
• Ecosystem is a group of organisms and their physical environment
• Ecosystem degradation occurs when alterations to an ecosystem degrade or destroy habitat for many of the species that constitute the ecosystem
• Ecosystem loss occurs when the changes to an ecosystem are so great and so many species typical of that ecosystem (especially dominant species) are lost that the ecosystem switches from one type to another
What are the main processes that degrade habitat and ecosystems?
Processes that degrade habitat and ecosystems
• Contamination/Pollution
• Human built structures
• Soil erosion
• Changing fire regimes
• Changing water use and hydrology
• Deforestation
• Desertification
• Draining wetlands
Copper Basin, Tennessee
Copper Basin, Tennessee
1926 1939
Copper Basin today
Copper Basin – Superfund site
Restoration of Burra Burra Pit, Copper Basin
Mid-1990s Mid 2000s
Copper mine tailings, Butte, Montana – largest Superfund site in America
Mine tailings outskirts of Sudbury, Ontario
Restoration of Sudbury
Air pollution – Mexico City
Extent of Acid Precipitation
Rhine River Basin
Healthy Coral Reef
Dying Coral Reefs
Bleached coral Silted out reef
DDT use in 1950s
DDT inZimbabwe
Thin Egg Shells from DDT
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