Anthropogenic and Climatic Impacts on Biodiversity

The key pressures on biodiversity are the loss of habitat, climate change, the introduction of invasive alien species (“IAS”), and the misuse of natural resources (Collen et al 2013).

The loss of biological diversity is greater in some environments and lower in others. Examples of environments most susceptible to biodiversity loss include areas populated by humans and areas experiencing significant impacts of climate change.

Human settlement patterns have been decimating biodiversity since 2 million years ago when our ancestors shifted from herbivorous to more meat-based diets (Turvey and Crees 2019). With the rise of human settlements, urbanisation, industrialisation, colonization, and the extraction of natural resources, humans have cleared land and forests and devastated natural habitats (Turvey and Crees 2019; Lai 2022). Species extinctions have increased dramatically in the past 2 centuries since the advent of the Industrial Revolution (Ceballos et al 2015).

With denser human populations often follows the spread of IAS, which are transported by humans and our domestic counterparts (YER 2013). IAS are generally introduced for the purposes of generating populations or to control other species, and may subsequently escape and continue to reproduce locally (Keller et al 2011).

In areas densely settled by humans, it is difficult for species to maintain biodiversity due to the permanent destruction of natural habitats compounded by the arrival of IAS (Simkin et al 2022).

The effects of climate change are often too severe and abrupt for species to adapt effectively; those who do adapt change their bodies, actions, and routines, or even migrating to other habitats, all of which upset biodiversity and interchanges between species (Weiskopf et al 2020).

Species may also be unable to overcome challenges to biodiversity in climate-vulnerable regions especially where added stress is experienced as extreme climate events become prolonged, more intense, and more frequent (The Royal Society).

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References:

• Ceballos, G., P.R. Ehrlich, A.D. Barnosky, A. Garcia, R.M. Pringle, and T.M. Palmer. (2015). ‘Accelerated modern human–induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction’, Science Advances 1(5) 2015.

• Collen, B., N. Pettorelli, J.E.M. Baillie, and S.M. Durant. (2013). ‘Biodiversity monitoring and conservation: bridging the gap between global commitment and local action’. (Cambridge: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013). Chapter 1: Biodiversity monitoring and conservation: bridging the gaps between global commitment and local action.

• Keller, R.P., Geist, J., Jeschke, J.M., and Kühn, I. (2011). ‘Invasive species in Europe: ecology, status, and policy’. Environ Sci Eur 23, 23 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1186/2190-4715-23-23

• Lai, O. (2022). ‘Biodiversity loss and definition and examples’, Earth.org. https://earth.org/biodiversity-loss-definition-and-examples/

• Simkin, R.D., Seto, K.C., McDonald, R.I., and Jetz, W. (2022). ‘Biodiversity impacts and conservation implications of urban land expansion projected to 2050’. PNAS 119 (12) e2117297119 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2117297119

• The Royal Society. ‘How does climate change affect biodiversity?’ https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/biodiversity/climate-change-and-biodiversity/

• Turvey, S.T. and J.J. Crees. (2019). ‘Extinction in the Anthropocene’, Current Biology 29 2019, R982–R986.

• Weiskopf, S.R., Rubenstein, M.A., Crozier, L.G., Gaichas, S., Griffis, R., Halofsky, J.E., Hyde, K.J.W., Morelli, T.L., Morisette, J.T., Muñoz, R.C., Pershing, A.J., Peterson, D.L., Poudel, R., Staudinger, M.D., Sutton-Grier, A.E., Thompson, L., Vose, J., Weltzin, J.F., and Whyte, K.P. (2020). ‘Climate change effects on biodiversity, ecosystems, ecosystem services, and natural resource management in the United States’. Science of The Total Environment, Volume 733, 2020, 137782, ISSN 0048-9697, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137782

• YER. (2013). ‘Invasive species follow in human wake’. https://environment-review.yale.edu/invasive-species-follow-human-wake-0