If climates disappear, so could species
Global warming also could lead to new conditions now unseen on Earth
Published 10:00 pm, Monday, March 26, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Some climates may disappear from Earth entirely, not just from their current locations, while new climates could develop if the planet continues to warm, a study says.
Using global change forecasts prepared for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, researchers led by Williams used computer models to estimate how climates in various parts of the world would be affected. Their findings are being published in this week's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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The IPCC, representing the world's leading climate scientists, reported in February that "warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observation of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising global average sea level."
Tropical regions in particular may face unexpected changes, particularly the rain forests in the Amazon and Indonesia, Williams' researchers concluded.
This was surprising, Williams said in a telephone interview, since the tropics tend to have little variation in weather.
But that also means temperature changes of 3 or 4 degrees in these regions might have more impact than a change of 5 to 8 degrees in a region that is accustomed to regular changes.
Species living in tropical areas may be less able to adapt, he said, adding that that is speculative and needs further study.
Areas such as the Southeastern United States and the Arabian Peninsula also may be affected, the researchers said.
And they said mountain areas such as in Peruvian and Colombian Andes and regions such as Siberia and southern Australia face a risk of climates disappearing altogether. That doesn't mean these regions would have no climate at all -- rather their climate would change and the conditions now in these areas would not occur elsewhere on Earth.
That would pose a risk to species living in those areas, Williams observed.
If some regions develop new climates that don't now exist, that might provide an opportunity for species that live there, he said. "But we can't make a prediction because it's outside our current experience and outside the experience of these species."
Alan Robock, a professor of environmental sciences at Rutgers University welcomed the report, calling it the first he has seen "that not only looks at species extinctions, but also looks at regions where novel climates will appear."