Today’s New York Times article, Climate Threatens Species at Every Altitude by Elisabeth Rosenthal, reminds us that people aren’t the only ones effected by climate change!  Species around the world are feeling the effects of a warmer planet.

Rosenthal explains, that species that live in tropic areas or near mountaintops are some of the most vulnerable species to climate change. Because the climate is changing so rapidly many plants and animals can’t adapt quickly enough to survive in new temperatures.

To cope with climate change animal species are migrating to new altitudes or closer to the poles where temperatures are cooler, leaving behind old ecosystems.  “In the tropics, animals have to move hundreds of miles north or south to find a different niche” (New York Times).

The loss of animal species to ecosystems doesn’t just mean the the lose of animal variety, it effects the entire food chain. In Kenya, “The loss of bird species means that some plants have no way to pollinate and die off, too. And that means it is hard for Mr. Kiiru to tend bees, his major source of income” (New York Times).

Dominic Kimani, a research ornithologist at the National Museums of Kenya, Explains in the article the frustrations that he is facing trying to get people to pay attention to the lose of Longclaw birds and other small species.  ‘“But it’s hard to get anyone to pay attention; they are just little brown birds. I know they’re important for grazing animals because they keep the grasses short. But it’s not dramatic, like you’re losing an elephant.”’ (New York Times).

Rosenthal continues to explain that the effects of climate change are not just happening in Kenya, but around the world.

“Over the next 100 years, many scientists predict, 20 percent to 30 percent of species could be lost if the temperature rises 3.6 degrees to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit.  If the most extreme warming predictions are realized, the loss could be over 50 percent, according to the United Nations climate change panel” ( New York Times).

In Colorado and other mountain communities in the united states the loss of animal species is evident.  “Mountain species face even starker limitations: As they climb upward they find themselves competing for less and less space on the conical peaks, where they run into uninhabitable rocks or a lack of their usual foods — or have nowhere farther to go” (New York Times).

The pika, an alpine chipmunk found in high altitude environments, have become more and more at risk.  With temperatures rising the pika is forced to move up hill to find cooler temperatures.

“Last year, new research in the journal Ecological Applications and elsewhere showed that the pika, a thick-furred, rabbit like animal that takes refuge from the sun in piles of stones, was moving upslope at about 160 yards a decade and that in the past decade it had experienced a fivefold rise in local extinctions, the term used when a local population forever disappears” (New York Times).