Scientists from Britain, Australia and Colombia recently announced that the habitats of many common plants and animals will shrink dramatically this century unless governments act quickly to cut rising greenhouse gas emissions.
After studying 50,000 species throughout the world, the scientists came to the conclusion that about 57 percent of plants and 34 percent of animal species were likely to lose more than half the area with a climate suited to them by the 2080s if nothing was done to limit emissions from power plants, factories and vehicles.
“Climate change will greatly reduce biodiversity, even for many common animals and plants,” lead author Rachel Warren of the University of East Anglia in England said. The decline would damage natural services for humans such as water purification and pollination, she said. Continue reading
