Plants And Animals Moving As Climate Changes, Study Finds
A new study suggests that plants and animals are moving as the climate changes.
Red Orbit reports on research published in the journal Science, showing that as temperatures rise, plants and animals are moving away from the equator and to higher elevations. As the Associated Press writes, they are "fleeing global warming."
2010 tied 2005 as the warmest year on record, according to government climate experts. According to the Associated Press, National Climatic Data Center's David Easterling noted that since 2000, we have experienced nine of the 10 warmest years on record.
In response to a changing climate, the study finds that species are moving away from the equator at an average rate of more than 15 feet per day, or about a mile per year.
The article also asserts that the plants moving the most are in the areas with the highest levels of warming.
In a phone interview with the Associated Press, Chris D. Thomas, a conservation biologist who lead the work, said, "It's not a matter that might happen in the lifetime of our children and our grandchildren. If you look in your garden you can see the effects of climate change already."
The findings are based on the largest analysis to date of the shifting ranges of species in certain areas of the world, according to the Washington Post.
"The more warming there’s been in an area, the more you would expect a species to move, and the more they have moved,” Thomas, told the Post. "This more or less puts to bed the issue of whether these shifts are related to climate change."
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First Posted: 08/18/11 08:21 PM ET Updated: 10/18/11 06:12 AM ET