The Effects of Global warming on the ecosystem
Ryan K.
As the title states, this blog will discuss the effects that global warming have on our ecosystems, as well as how it is affect human health, marine life, plant life, animal life, as well as some basic and easy steps we can take to help.
What is global warming?
Some of you may not know what global warming is, and that is OK. What global warming is, is the increase in the overall temperature of earth's atmosphere. Of course, earth does gradually warm up and cool down naturally, but global warming is a bit on the "unnatural" side. One of the biggest contributors to global warming is the rise of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, and the atmosphere is a sort of barrier that protects and insulates the earth. Here is an example of how it works:
The effects of global warming on our ecosystems in general
As stated before, global warming is the increase of global temperature and you may think "It may be a bit hotter, but so what?". With the rise in temperature, some species who prefer the cold are forced to migrate further and further north, not only disrupting the ecosystem's food chain they were a part of, but also the one they have migrated to. And now you may be thinking "So some animals move more up north, so what?". Well, global warming IS the global rise in temperature, and what do we have at both of out poles? Ice! Lots of it as well. And i'm sure that on a hot summer day, you had a glass of lemonade with some ice in it, well what happened to the ice? It melted! in fact that is what is happening to the ice at both of our poles right now, in fact, a recent study shows that we can expect a 2.5 to 6.5 feet (0.8 to 2 meters) rise of the sea level by 2100, and believe me, that may seem far away but it is allot close then you think.
How does it affect human health?
"Now how could the world getting hotter affect my health?" is what your probably thinking. Now, what if I told you that there was some sort of "barrier", protecting us from harmful radiation, you would probably think that's great. And not what if i told you that this "barrier" is becoming thinner? Yeah I would be kinda scared too. But that is what is happening right now with this "barrier". This "barrier" thing I keep on mentioning is in fact our atmosphere. The atmosphere reflects a good deal of the suns ray's back out into space, of course ray's still do come through and affects us (it's also the reason why whenever i go out swimming in the summer i get a sun burn...) but not on a large scale.
How does it affect marine life?
As I stated within the "general" effects of global warming, certain species are forced to migrate due to the increase in temperature, marine life is no exception, and as i stated before, it disrupts the food chain and so on so forth. Although one of the most dramatic changes to marine life due to climate change is the bleaching of coral reefs! Due to the increase of water temperatures, the coral reefs have been bleaching themselves as a response. And as you may or may not know, coral reefs are filled with a diverse variety of fish, and that includes predators. Some fish used these coral reefs to hide from these predators but with the bleaching these fish have no place to hide so they are simply eaten. Of course this does happen naturally, but when lets say 20 fish are eaten instead of the normal 5 fish, do you think that perhaps some other species of fish may go hungry? Or perhaps that this species of fish may simply become extinct within this region? In fact,here is a picture of bleached coral reef: 
How is it affecting animal life?
Of course, global warming is pretty much affecting animals the same way it is affecting marine life. It is forcing them to migrate and disrupt the ecosystem they leave and go to, it starves some species and causes others to become scarce. And this may seem short and lacking of an explanation, but the way global warming effects animal life is scarily close to that of how it affects marine life and in fact, most life on this planet.
How is it affecting plant life?
Amazingly enough, with the rise in temperature, plant life is migrating as well! Although migrating may be not the term to use here of course since they are not physically walking there on there own legs. But with the rise in temperature plant life that prefer cooler climates are dying the closer they are to the equator or are not growing at all or very slowly when they are planted. I am sure that most if not some of you are aware of the process of photosynthesis, it is the process in which plants and other certain organisms use sunlight to synthesize nutrients from carbon dioxide and water. And of course, this is a good thing, especially since one of the main contributors to global warming is the increase on carbon dioxide, but, with the increase of carbon dioxide, there is also the chance that this can affect a plants growth, physiology, chemistry as well as how carbon dioxide, water and sunlight the plant absorbs, whether it be an increase or decrease.
In conclusion...
To sort of "summarize" some of the key points here, life on earth is forced to continually move around and disrupt multiple things whether it be the food chain or something else, it can cause harmful affects to life on this planet, and can change the physiology and chemistry of some organisms. And of course, this all seems terrible and bad and all that, but in truth this can all be changed, of course it cant be with a snap of our fingers and it will take time, lots of it, but it is not impossible to change things for the better. Some simple steps that you as an individual can do are things that seem simple and are simple but also have an effect on this world. Some things you can do are; turning off the light's in the room when you are not using that room or when it is sunny out and can get light through a window, don't take extremely long showers and try to shorten the amount of water you use, walking/biking/taking the bus to where you want to get to and even simply throwing things out properly (putting the recyclables in the recycling, the garbage in the garbage) can have an affect on the world for the better.
Resources for all information and pictures:
