"These range from individual genes changing, significant shifts in species' physiology and physical features such as body size, and species moving to entirely new areas." The study, which analyzed 94 ecological processes as documented in peer-reviewed literature, also warned that the more ecosystems change, the less likely they may be to guard against the harshest effects of climate change. Increasingly warm oceans will no longer act as a an effective buffer against temperature rise, and climate-related floods, sea-level rise and cyclones will get worse. "We are simply astonished at the level of change we observed, which many of us in the scientific community were not expecting for decades," said senior author James Watson from the University of Queensland and Wildlife Conservation Society, member of the IUCN Climate Change Specialist Group. "It is no longer sensible to consider this a concern for the future, and if we don't act quickly to curb emissions it is likely that every ecosystem across Earth will fundamentally change in our lifetimes."

Source: The Nation Bangkok November 11, 2016 06:47 UTC