How are Global Warming
and Biodiversity Connected?
MOTIVATION
Recently, due to global warming, the climate in which species live has changed, and more and more species that adapted to the regional environment have become extinct or the number of species has decreased significantly.
For example, babies of walruses living on Arctic sea ice are trampled to death as too many individuals are concentrated in a narrow area. Also, the food competition is intensifying, so they go far to seek food and starve.
Therefore, our team wants to analyze how climate change by humans is affecting global biodiversity and how it eventually affects the climate system. From this analysis, we will investigate feedback that has been created in the biosphere and climate systems due to climate change. In addition, after looking for existing solutions to solve this problem through literature research, we will also present our team's solution for this problem.
Figure 1. Walrus Distribution, Abundance and Challenge (Source: WWF Arctic Programme)
Figure 2. Picture of Walrus Family (Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV7VQa3j1KU)
HYPOTHESIS
Global warming is decreasing biodiversity and this contributes to the acceleration of global warming,
making positive feedback.
METHODS / DATA
(1) Through IUCN Red List Website, we will specifically identify where and how the species populations are changing
(2) We will analyze the main threats to various species and determine how many species are suffering from global warming. Additionally, we will classify Red List species based on their habitats to identify which East Asian countries were most severely affected by the decline in biodiversity due to climate change. At the same time, we will also investigate places where biodiversity has increased due to global warming.
(3) We will analyze the common features of regions where biodiversity decreases and increases due to global warming.
(4) Through literature surveys, we'll identify what chain effects are shown in the areas where climate change-induced biodiversity change occurred. After that, we'll analyze how these chain effects are affecting global warming. (e.g., high-level global warming may improve plant habitat and increase biodiversity, but the sunlight reflected by the ice is absorbed by the plants, giving positive feedback to global warming. )
(5) Using the commonalities of areas where biodiversity decreases in the process (3), we will look for appropriate solutions to preserve biodiversity through literature research.
