How does climate change affect living things?

Our planet is getting warmer. The air near Earth’s surface is almost one and one-half degrees F warmer than it was 100 years ago. For the last 50 years, the Earth has been warming up twice as fast as in 50 years before that.

One and one-half degrees may not seem like much. But, when the whole earth is warming, many kinds of living things are affected. Life is like a spider web. Every part connects to every other part.

Here is an example. Herds of caribou live in cold, Arctic locations. Caribou hate mosquitoes. Mosquitoes love warm weather. In the past few years, warmer summers have helped mosquito populations to explode. The caribou have to spend a lot more energy swatting and running from the mosquitoes. The caribou get tired, but they still have to find enough food and prepare for the next long winter. Female caribou are especially troubled, because it takes so much energy to give birth and raise their young.

Hibernating animals also suffer. Bears are waking up too early from their long winter naps. They feel warm and think spring has come. But days may still be too short for the plants to start their spring growth. Therefore, the wide-awake, hungry animals have a hard time finding something to eat.

Many trees also suffer from climate change. Lack of rain and snow in the West leaves trees thirsty and stressed. The trees are more likely to become infected with pine beetles. These bugs bore into the trees and lay their eggs. Eventually, they kill the trees. When the forest is gone, birds and small mammals that lived there have to find new homes.Our planet is getting warmer. The air near Earth’s surface is almost one and one-half degrees F warmer than it was 100 years ago. For the last 50 years, the Earth has been warming up twice as fast as in 50 years before that.
One and one-half degrees may not seem like much. But, when the whole earth is warming, many kinds of living things are affected. Life is like a spider web. Every part connects to every other part.
Here is an example. Herds of caribou live in cold, Arctic locations. Caribou hate mosquitoes. Mosquitoes love warm weather. In the past few years, warmer summers have helped mosquito populations to explode. The caribou have to spend a lot more energy swatting and running from the mosquitoes. The caribou get tired, but they still have to find enough food and prepare for the next long winter. Female caribou are especially troubled, because it takes so much energy to give birth and raise their young.
Hibernating animals also suffer. Bears are waking up too early from their long winter naps. They feel warm and think spring has come. But days may still be too short for the plants to start their spring growth. Therefore, the wide-awake, hungry animals have a hard time finding something to eat.
Many trees also suffer from climate change. Lack of rain and snow in the West leaves trees thirsty and stressed. The trees are more likely to become infected with pine beetles. These bugs bore into the trees and lay their eggs. Eventually, they kill the trees. When the forest is gone, birds and small mammals that lived there have to find new homes.

There are many other plants and animals struggling to adapt to the changing climate. Learn how you can help. Check out NASA’s new Climate Kids website, climate.nasa.gov/kids. Play “Migration Concentration” and find out about other endangered animals.

This article was written by Diane K. Fisher and provided courtesy of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.