Climate Change Impacts on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

Abstract

Climate change realities cannot be ignored as widespread changes are seen in the environment. It has been documented by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that global average temperatures have risen by 0.7⁰C and are expected to continue rising. The entire global community evidences climate change adverse impacts as it changes biodiversity at an unprecedented rate on ecosystems, their component species, genes within species and ecological interactions. It is projected to cause species to move, die or change. Change in species richness and evenness causes ecosystem dysfunction, affecting goods and services provided by that biodiversity in question in that particular ecosystem crucial for human survival and well-being. In this review, we consider the impacts of climate change on biodiversity in different ecosystems; terrestrial, freshwater and marine. It considers that climate change affects biodiversity and the ecosystem goods and services that depend entirely on biodiversity. It concludes by summing up the potential stresses imposed by climate change on both biodiversity and ecosystems services and looking at the adaptation and mitigation measures adopted by the individuals, governments and the international community. Additionally, it calls for more extraordinary tools and techniques as adaptation measures and assesses the progress of the issue of climate change. Secondary data from scholarly journals and government archives were used.