The expert spoke about the effects of global warming on different species of animals.

An increase in temperature on Earth can affect entire ecosystems, as it can destroy some living organisms and spread infectious diseases. Roman Oparin, Associate Professor of the Department of General Biology and Bioecology at the State University of Education, told Izvestia on February 12.

According to the expert, the so-called "stenothermic" species, which are adapted to life in a narrow temperature range, are most vulnerable to climate change. These include inhabitants of high latitudes (polar bears, walruses, penguins), for which sea ice is not just a habitat. In addition, a critical situation may develop with corals: an increase in water temperature by 1 degree triggers a mass extinction of these organisms, and if 30% of the Great Barrier Reef was affected in 2016, then with an increase of 2 degrees, the reefs as ecosystems will disappear completely.

"The process of climate change is already leading to the extinction of species. We record local population extinctions, and when the threshold of +2 degrees is reached, biologists predict the loss of up to a third of all species of flora and fauna," he said.

In addition, according to Oparin, an increase in temperature affects ecosystems in general. However, as the expert emphasized, it is the adaptive mechanisms, which are divided into behavioral and physiological, in plants and animals that can mitigate these consequences. For example, over the past 30 years, European chickadees and flycatchers have shifted their egg laying schedule two weeks earlier in order to meet the peak in caterpillar numbers.

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What environmental and economic consequences can this lead to?

"However, evolution is a slow process, and the climate is changing faster. Therefore, the adaptive resource is not infinite, and with a sharp jump in temperatures, the "ecological trap effect" is triggered, the effect of which can be a mass extinction of species," he said.

Also, an increase in temperature can increase the risk of the spread of infectious diseases due to the expansion of the vector range. Thus, mosquitoes carrying dengue fever are already being recorded in Southern Europe and the Caucasus. Ixodic ticks (encephalitis, borreliosis) have moved to Yakutia and the Arkhangelsk region, where they had not existed before.

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Earlier in the day, The Guardian reported that global warming could irreversibly affect the Earth's climate. So, scientists have warned about the transformation of the Earth into a "greenhouse planet", which will be much worse than an increase in temperature by 2-3 degrees.

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