What will the impacts be?
The basic impact of climate change is an increase in global average temperatures. However, this statement masks the considerable variation of possible impacts. A very few places will actually get cooler but some places will get far warmer than others. Some will get drier while others get wetter. Ice sheets will melt but snowfall may increase. While there are many apparent contradictions some consensus on major impacts is emerging.
There will always be uncertainty in understanding a system as complex as the world’s climate. However, there is now strong evidence that significant global warming is occurring.
Ecological impacts are likely to be exaggerated by habitat fragmentation. A few thousand years ago animals and plant distributions would be able to change to accommodate climate change by moving, either immediately or gradually over generations.
However, as wildlife is increasingly isolated in protected areas it is no longer able to move as the regions outside the protected areas are filled with agriculture or human habitation. As a result, scientists predict that over a million species are threatened with extinction.
Make your data count
ClimateWatch was developed in order to understand the effects that climate change is having on our Earth's natural processes. The first project of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, ClimateWatch will allow every Australian to be involved in collecting and recording data that will help shape the country’s scientific response to climate change.
Climate change is affecting rainfall and temperature across Australia. As a consequence, the triggers for flowering times, breeding cycles, migration movements and other phenological characteristics are also changing.
Further information
Bureau of Meteorology Climate Change http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/change/