Scientist: Warming Will End Some Species (forthcoming IPCC report)

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/tech/2007/mar/31/033106227.html

From the micro to the macro, from plankton in the oceans to polar bears in the far north and seals in the far south, global warming has begun changing life on Earth, international scientists will report next Friday.

"Changes in climate are now affecting physical and biological systems on every continent," says a draft obtained by The Associated Press of a report on warming's impacts, to be issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the authoritative U.N. network of 2,000 scientists and more than 100 governments.

In February the panel declared it "very likely" most global warming has been caused by manmade emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Animal and plant life in the Arctic and Antarctic is undergoing substantial change, scientists say. Rising sea levels elsewhere are damaging coastal wetlands. Warmer waters are bleaching and killing coral reefs, pushing marine species toward the poles, reducing fish populations in African lakes, research finds.

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[phantom power]

1. The adjective "some" doesn't seem to capture the true magnitude, does it.

Our current extinction rate is estimated at 1000x the background-level. And climate change is just starting to gather momentum.

[Javaman]

4. I was thinking the same thing. Some???? nt

[JohnWxy]

2. RECOMMENDED.

[ananda]

3. including humans...

sigh