Ecosystem Responses To Climate Change Flashcards
What are consumers
Organisms that feed on plants or on other organisms (microbes, animals)
What is phenology
Study of timing of development in plants and animals
What are the direct effects of climate change on consumers
Phenology and growth
Phenology of plants
Budburst
Flowering
Leaf fall
Phenology of animals
Emergency from hibernation
Reproduction
Migrairon
How does climate change effect warm blooded animals
They are buffered from direct temperate effects so metabolism isn’t directly effected.
Responses to climate change more likely to be indirect via food or wider ecosystem.
How does climate change effect cold blooded animals
Physiology, growth and development often tightly coupled to temperature
What is the relationships between temperature and growth in cold blooded animals
Linear.
No development below 10C.
Above 10C each 5*C increase in temperature produces a constant increase in development
What happens when the relationship between development and temperature is linear
It is often possible to summarise temperature effects in terms of accumulated temperature above the threshhold
What is a degree day
How many degrees is above the threshhold temperature for how many days. Times together e.g 2d @5*C is 10 degree days.
When does a given developmental stage occur
At a set number of degree data
Example of animal with a linear relationship between temperature and development
White cabbage butterfly
Facts about the white cabbage bitterly
Development from egg hatching to pupation is 174 degree days above a threshhold of 10.5*C
What is the predicted effect of animal development in higher temperatures
Development starts earlier in spring and doesn’t stop over winter.
More generations per year so greater population build up.
Species currently constrained by threshold temperatures may move north or beyond favoured habitats.
What is happening to amphibians in the uk
They are spawning earlier. Around 10 days over the last 20 years.
What has happened to insects in the northern hemisphere
They are extended their range northwards including some plant pests and vectors of human disease
What are happening to insects
Extending their range to higher altitudes and disappearing at lower elevations in some cases
What is happening to Uk birds
Extending their range northwards at 6miles a decade and breeding earlier at 1 week in 20 years
What are three diseases that are likely to move due to climate change
Malaria (mosquito)
Dengue fever (mosquito)
Schistosomiasis (water snail)
What is 1*C temperature rise in Rwanda associated with
A 337% increase in malaria
What do models predict that a 3*C warming would lead to
50-80 million additional cases of malaria per year worldwide
Why may changes in herbivorous insects be secondary
Changing in response to the effects of warming on plant development
What do all plants have
Characteristic temperature responses - different optimum temperatures
What are differences in optimum temperature due to
Differences in metabolism of species