For the last 13 weeks I have been keeping this blog about species distribution and how ranges are likely to change with climate variations. I have investigated past, present and future changes in population ranges of both plants and animals. I have really enjoyed blogging and have having never written a blog before, think I have discovered my blogging style. When I am most inspired by something I have read or watched I wanted to blog about it straight away. This often led to other blog ideas and so often I would blog several times a week. Other times I would blog less as I had less inspiration! Never the less, I have learnt a lot since I started this blog, and have gained a much wider knowledge in this area which still persists to amaze and interest me!
My views have been changed since writing this blog. I started with the idea because I thought that species moving pole-wards and to higher altitudes was only a recent phenomenon. I began this blog with knowledge of previous range shifts due to climate variations (i.e. during the ice age) but thought that these were on a much smaller scale and at a much slower rate than current levels. I believed that range shifts had occurred previously but would have taken centuries or millennia to show great movement (unlike the patterns of the present day with the average species moving at 18km pole-wards per decade and 5-10m upwards on slopes). However, while keeping this blog I have realised that species, if possible, have and always will shift their ranges with climate change.
I have realised the more important factor in this phenomena is not itself, or how quickly it is occurring, but that combined with human interference it could be fatal to many species. In the past, before humans as we currently know them existed, animals and plants could expand and contract their ranges much easier as there were far less barriers that could interfere this. Oceans are a large natural barrier to land-bound species, however many human barriers now exist that are preventing species from shifting their ranges. These include urban areas (from small roads to whole cities), cropland (deforestation is a major problem) and other barriers such as dams. The combination of climate change forcing species to shift their ranges, and human actions (i.e. deforestation) preventing easy movement of these species is the largest problem.
In order to prevent a near future of mass extinction, great amounts of consideration during future planning will have to be taken. Assisted migration is one idea – humans ‘helping’ species shift their ranges by moving individuals to new suitable areas which naturally they wouldn’t be able to reach due to barriers. In theory, this idea seems very viable – however, in reality it is not simple. Generalist species will be the easiest to relocate as they are more adaptable and have a larger number of conditions they can survive in. However, specialist species may not be able to adapt to other areas, or may only survive on one prey which cannot be relocated. Another idea is conservation areas which will need large amounts of planning to incorporate future changes in climate. This was particularly interesting to me as it was not an idea I had thought about before, and is quite significant in protecting biodiversity and rare species in the future.
I am glad I chose this subject to blog about. I have found the whole experience of great interest and it has further increased my interest in conservation.
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