The British
scientists from the Universities of York, Glasgow
and Leeds have been recently re-examining fossil
and geological records going back 540 million years, in order to discover the
connection between biodiversity and global warming of the planet.
Their
conclusion was that in the normal scenario biodiversity on Earth increases as
the planet warms but present rapid trends of increasing temperature will
unlikely increase global biodiversity on short-tem because climate change is
happening too fast (primarily due to increased human impact).
The rate of
increase in biodiversity is primarily dependant on the evolution of new species
over millions and millions of years. Of course, the evolution of new species is
also usually accompanied by extinctions of existing species that fail to adapt
to changes in climate.
Overall
speaking, warm climates seem to boost biodiversity in the very long run
(millions of years), rather than reducing it but short-term speaking there is
likely to be more extinction than evolution of new species.
The
scientists however still disagree that that current global warming is good for
existing species, at least from the current point of view, because large
changes in our planet's biodiversity need millions of years so the only thing
we could right now predict with a reasonable dose of certainty is short-term
losses in our planet’s biodiversity.
The fossil
records showed clear proof that the warmer periods in past were at first
accompanied by the increased rate of extinction, but after a longer time span
they also promoted the evolution of new species, increasing overall
biodiversity on our planet.
The past
geological periods however didn’t have humans in the climate change equation.
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