Which Animal Is Greatly Affected By Global Climate Change?

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. We are already seeing its effects with rising seas, catastrophic wildfires and water shortages. These changes are non only having a dramatic affect on diverse ecosystems only also on the wildlife that phone call these places dwelling. Hither are 9 species that are already being affected by climate change.

If nosotros don't act on climate now, this list is just the tip of the iceberg of what we can wait in years to come. Future generations shouldn't just see these animals in history books -- nosotros owe information technology to them to protect these creatures and their habitats.

1. Moose

Ascension temperatures and booming parasite populations are expected to cause this cold-weather species that calls the northern United States and Canada home to move further north. That'southward considering milder winters and less snow can lead to higher numbers of winter ticks. Tens of thousands of these parasites can gather on a single moose to feed on its blood -- weakening the beast'southward immune system and often ending in death, especially the calves. Photo past National Park Service.

moose eating leaves

2. Salmon

Salmon require cold, fast-flowing streams and rivers to spawn. Irresolute stream flows and warming waters in the Pacific Northwest are already impacting some salmon species and populations. College temperatures have besides led a harmful salmon parasite to invade Alaska's Yukon River. So while salmon might currently exist on the menu, climatic change is expected to impact major commercial and recreational fishing industries in the coming years. Photograph by Bureau of Land Management.

fish in water

three. Snowshoe Hares

To assistance hide from predators, this North American rabbit has evolved to plow white in winter to alloy in with the snow. With climate change, snow in some areas is melting before than the hares have grown accustomed to, leaving stark white hares exposed in snow-less landscapes. This increased vulnerability might cause declines in hare populations that could lead to implications for other species. Snowshoe hares are critical players in forest ecosystems. Photo by National Park Service.

snowshoe hare

4. American Pikas

Well-nigh the size and shape of a hamster, the American pika typically lives at high elevations where cool, moist conditions prevail. Inquiry by U.South. Geological Survey has institute that pika populations are now disappearing from numerous areas that span from the Sierra Nevadas to the Rocky Mountains. Populations within some areas are migrating to college elevations likely to avoid reduced snowpacks and warmer summer temperatures. Unfortunately, pikas are strongly tied to rocky-talus habitat that is limited and patchily distributed. This gives them few options every bit temperatures continue to ascension. Photograph by Jon LeVasseur (www.sharetheexperience.org).

pika with leaves in mouth

5. Sea Turtles

Diverse populations of body of water turtle species and their nesting sites are vulnerable to sea-level rise, increased storminess and changing temperatures -- all impacts of climate change. These factors may result in current nesting and foraging sites becoming unsuitable for federally threatened and endangered turtle species -- especially loggerhead sea turtles. Photograph past USGS.

turtles on a beach

half-dozen. Puffins

These colorful-billed birds that look like miniature penguins are experiencing population declines in the United states and elsewhere. In the Gulf of Maine, puffins are having difficulty finding their major food sources of white hake and herring. As the ocean warms, the fish are moving into deeper waters or farther n, making it harder for puffins to catch a meal and feed their young. Adult puffins are compensating past feeding their young butterfish, but young puffins are unable to swallow these large fish and many are dying of starvation. Delayed breeding seasons, low nascence rates and chick survival are all affecting the reproductive ability of these birds. Photograph past USFWS.

puffins

7. Alaskan Caribou

Caribou are always on the movement -- it'southward not uncommon for them to travel long distances in search of acceptable food. Simply equally temperatures increase and wildfires burn hotter and longer in Alaska, it could considerably modify the caribou's habitat and winter food sources. Ultimately, this volition impact subsistence hunters who rely on caribou for nutritional, cultural and economic reasons. Photo courtesy of Jacob West. Frank.

caribou

viii. Pipe Plovers

The piping plover is an iconic shorebird that breeds and nests along the Atlantic Coast, the Dandy Lakes and the Great Plains. Increased human employ of their embankment habitats, including intense littoral evolution, as well as rising sea levels and tempest surges associated with climate modify threaten the species. Photo by USFWS.

birds on a beach

9. Polar Bears

Polar bears in many means have become the symbol of climate change. In 2008, they were listed equally a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act -- the get-go species to exist listed because of forecasted population declines from the furnishings of climate change. The primary crusade of their decline: loss of sea ice habitat attributed to Arctic warming. Polar bears need bounding main ice to hunt seals -- a main source of nutrient -- every bit well equally to move across the large home ranges they demand for foraging habitat. Polar bears aren't alone in feeling the effects of shrinking sea ice. Walruses and other Arctic species are facing like challenges as summer ocean ice continues to retreat. Photograph by National Park Service.

polar bear jumping in water