The complex network of interdependencies between plants and animals multiplies the species at risk of extinction due to environmental change, according to a JRC study.
The complex network of interdependencies between plants and animals multiplies the species at risk of extinction due to environmental change, according to a JRC study.
In the case of global warming, predictions that fail to take into account this cascading effect might underestimate extinctions by up to 10 times.
As an obvious, direct consequence of climate change, plants and animals living in a given area are driven to extinction when the local environmental conditions become incompatible with their tolerance limits, just like fish in an aquarium with a broken thermostat.
However, there are many elusive drivers of species loss that go beyond the direct effects of environmental change (and human activity) which we still struggle to understand.
Read more at European Commission Joint Research Centre
Photo Credit: javallma via Pixabay
