Invasive Species: Influence of Climate Change
Climate change has always been a looming threat that has slowly been worsening over time but has accelerated in the past decade. One of the main factors is due to businesses and people burning fossil fuels which emit gases that trap the sun’s harmful UV rays within the atmosphere, slowly heating up the earth. As stated by National Geographic, climate change is defined as the notable changes in temperature, weather patterns, and other measures of climate that occurred from the 20th century to the present day. Many humans have been affected by the drastic changes in global temperature, but the unseen victims of global warming are the wildlife. When one thinks of climate change, people usually do not think about the devastating impacts of the changing world on ecosystems and biodiversity. The habitat and health of the wildlife are seriously threatened by a number of effects of climate change. Loss of wetlands, the rise of sea levels, and invasive species are some of the most important among them.
Wetlands house more than one-third of the United States’ threatened and endangered species, like a specific species of fish, peregrine falcons, and more. As defined by Oxford Dictionary, wetlands are defined as “land consisting of marshes or swamps.” The loss of wetlands can lead to higher temperatures, which can cause drier conditions that affect the breeding of conditions of certain mammals. For example, an animal’s breeding condition that is affected by the loss of wetland is the North American waterfowl, native to the Midwest Prairie Pothole region. This leads to a decrease in soil moisture and open pothole wetlands, which are breeding sites for North American waterfowl. Unfortunately, due to the decreasing number of wetlands, potholes began decreasing, causing predators (foxes, skunks, raccoons, and badgers) to have a higher chance to feast on the eggs of the waterfowl. Since the waterfowl need to feed on aquatic invertebrates, the rate of the population of the waterfowl is directly proportional to the number of acres of wetlands. There need to be sufficient amounts of water holes to be able to maintain the small waterfowl population. In addition to the higher temperatures, wetlands are also susceptible to poor water quality. Without wetlands, it is much easier for pesticides and other pollutants to dissolve into the water and enter our waterway. The absence of wetlands removes the filter that helps with separating the pollutants with freshwater. The best example of water quality being affected by the loss of wetlands is the Mississippi River, according to “Information for Action.” Pollutants from cars and pesticides wash into the Mississippi River from neighboring farms. However, without the Everglade wetlands, bacteria and pesticides that used to be filtered at the wetlands, run directly into the Mississippi River which then leads to the Gulf of Mexico. This transfer of water can have extremely dangerous effects on the ecosystem. Removing wetlands has very harmful effects on the surrounding ecosystem and the wildlife that rely on the wetland’s resources, like food and shelter.
In an article focusing on how climate change affects sea life, Brian Boutin, a Nature Conservancy biologist claims, “We’re on the front line here. We’re going to fight sea-level rise regardless.” Sea levels have been rising, ever since the glaciers started to melt during the last ice age which was 20,000 years ago. This timeline sped up during the Industrial Revolution where people began to burn fossil fuels, causing the heat from the sun to trap inside the atmosphere. By 2100, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted seven inches to two feet increase in sea level. Increasing water levels causes erosion, which removes topsoil from the ground, removing the seed bank that is present in the soil. As icebergs began to melt, the water levels started to rise, which resulted in water coming into contact with pesticide-covered plants. Furthermore, this can cause toxins and pesticides to be introduced into waterways which can kill aquatic wildlife since aquatic organisms rely on clear water in order to eat. Pesticides can kill non-target organisms (NTOs), which are species that are not used in control but become exposed to a particular Cry protein expressed in transgenic plants by direct ingestion via the environment. The killing of NTOs removes beneficial organisms in the ecosystem, like soil bacteria and fish. Directly, fertilizers are not toxic, but they begin to change their nature when mixed with freshwater because it starts to form algae that cause fishes and aquatic organisms to suffocate and die. To add on, the water becomes more saline as the water level starts to increase, causing organisms, like turtles, to not be able to survive in salty conditions. A turtle’s body cannot process the high-salt water that is caused by the rising sea levels. So, to combat this, they simply do not eat, causing them to lose body mass. The lead doctoral candidate of this study, Mickey Agha, observed that turtles reacted to these changes in water by relocating their habitat. However, it was observed that they had nowhere to move to, so the habitat just vanishes completely. This causes a decline in population in areas where there are no freshwater ponds. The rise in water level plays a huge role in an organism’s habitat and lifestyle.
As the Earth warms and the weather changes, this can cause invasive species to enter an ecosystem, which can result in devastating effects on the wildlife living within the ecosystem. Invasive species can be any living organism that is not from the ecosystem and is present within that habitat only to cause harm. Invasive species can occur when icebergs melt and diseases that have been frozen for centuries are unleashed. Additionally, when an extreme climatic event has occurred (hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons), this can cause a lower resistance for wildlife to protect their habitat or can cause new species to be introduced to a place. Since pathogens and viruses thrive in places with warmer temperatures, as global temperature increases, it becomes easier for pathogens to spread to wildlife. Due to plants not receiving enough water, pests can take advantage of this, causing a decrease in the population of certain plants. An example would be a Dartmouth study that portrays the relationship between climate change and invasive species by increasing the water temperature of the habitat of the native species, the zooplankton, and introducing a non-native species, the sunfish. The results of this study showed that the non-native species were able to thrive, overpowering the population of the native species. The sunfish had an increased appetite which was more effective when it came to defenses against fish predation and it was able to grow faster in size than that of the zooplankton.
Even though climate change has rapidly increased over the past few decades, people have been taking action to help save wildlife. There has been awareness and a good example of one would be the climate strikes hosted by 16-year-old activist, Greta Thunberg. In addition, countries all around the world take part in the Paris Climate Agreement, which is an agreement that focuses on keeping the global temperature well below two degrees Celsius. Human-caused global warming causes the melting of icebergs, which, as was said before, can release dangerous diseases that are extremely harmful to wildlife, also known as “invasive species.” The federal government also has helped with controlling the spread of invasive species. MP Action 4.3.2 states that federal agencies have the authority to take any necessary action to prevent, remove, and control non-native species that can cause harm to wildlife health. Furthermore, Microsoft joined hands with National Geographic and helped with researching how melting glaciers affect the ecosystem. We cannot try to make the world less hot, but we can control the temperature to make it stay constant and we can restore the habitats of many wildlife creatures by restoring their original environments.
