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Drava Knabe

Emily Kretzer

ENG 1201

2, November 2019

Climate Change on Animals

There are always posters, advocates, articles on climate change, but do people really

understand what climate change is? Is climate change even real? Is it as big of a deal as scientists

say it is? Is the planet in danger because of climate change? Climate change is affecting animals

that play a key role in the ecosystem and food chain. Humans have always been the biggest issue

when it comes to climate change. This issue has been one of the biggest and most complex issues

the planet has faced. It plays a huge role on everyone and everything from the ecosystem that

food and animals grow in, to economics where jobs and lives reside. Climate change is no longer

something that will affect future generations, it has begun now. Humans of all ages are beginning

to face the thrash of climate change. (“Climate Change.” The National Wildlife Federation) The

earth will lose about half of the diverse species if the emissions continue at this rate. There needs

to be a slow down in the process of climate change because not only are animals at risk, humans

are as well. Changes need to be made.

Without climate change, free-living animals face many obstacles that already make living

in these climates hard for them to survive in. “In natural conditions, free-living animals often

suffer, among other harms, physical injury, hunger and thirst, extreme weather conditions,

psychological stress, predation and parasitism, and disease.” (Faria 38) Free-living animals have

to scavenge for their own food and water, sometimes going hungry or thirsty. A lot of these

animals face predators and other species that are fighting to steal their food. A lot of animals die
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because of things like these. Things such as hunger, competition and predators. Life in the wild

is very hard before adding the fact of climate change onto them. Climate change has made it

seemingly impossible for a lot of species to survive in their own habitat.

What does animal welfare have to do with climate change? Well, to understand climate

change, there first has to be an understanding of the mental capacities, physical capacities and

feelings of the animals affected by this. Some may believe that they are just animals, that they do

not have the same mental capacities as humans, therefore they do not matter. Well, while they do

not have the same mental capacities as humans, they still do think, have feelings, and feel pain. It

is said that animals who are free living in their natural habitats should be considered equal to

humans, as they endure a lot of the same psychological and physical problems. (Almiron 43)

Many people will argue animals do not feel pain, but you see these things in your everyday lives,

especially if people own animals. Animals who get hurt by stepping on something, or pulling a

muscle in their leg, will indeed become distressed. These animals will feel what has happened to

them, making it obvious of the pain they feel associated with the injury.

Free-living animals do suffer, they feel all of the same feelings a human do. Most of their

actions are based on the instinct these animals were born with, but they still understand the

feeling of pain, and other unpleasant physical or mental harm. Humans and animals both share

the same thoughts of avoiding pain. Animals will avoid anything that is unpleasant to feel, just as

humans do.(Almiron 43) Free-living animals face the most stressful and harsh climates, yet

before climate change, would survive and thrive in their natural habitats. As discussed later on in

this research paper, these free-living animals are forced out of their natural habitats to do things

like scavenge for food because they are hungry, thirsty, hot or cold.
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The free-living animals that are being affected by climate change play a huge role in our

food chain and ecosystem. They provide food for their predators. They keep overpopulated

species under control. These animals eat overpopulated plants, and invading species. A lot of

these animals keep insects such as spiders and mosquitos under control, which can carry diseases

that are transferable to humans. “Mammals play dominant roles in many systems. They make up

most of the terrestrial large-bodied predators in North America, and these large, high-trophic

mammals have significant impacts on the ecosystems they inhabit.” (McKelvey) Also, rodents

carry diseases that are immune to their predators, but not to humans. A large amount of

mammals that are affected by climate change actually eat these rodents, keeping their population

under control. These rodents harbor many diseases that can be passed to insects and other

animals. These insects include fleas and ticks which can carry these diseases. They can bite

humans and infect them with a multitude of diseases. These diseases include things such as

Lyme disease. But can also include diseases such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever and so much

more. Rodents carry these diseases, and if rodents become overpopulated, these diseases will

spread faster than ever. The spreading of these serious diseases are often linked to the

overpopulation of rodents. So when the mammals who eat these rodents become less prevalent

due to the changing of the temperature, these diseases can directly affect humans in larger

quantities than before. (McKelvey, 7, e.g 8, 9)

People often think climate change does not directly affect them, but as stated above, that

is a misunderstanding. When humans come in contact with these fleas, ticks, and rodents they are

more likely to become infected with a serious disease. How will you come in contact with these

disease infected rodents? Well, things people enjoy, such as hiking, camping, and really anything

outdoors, you are likely to come into contact with one of the three hosts for the diseases
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mentioned above. If something like Lyme disease is not caught fast enough it will end with a

lifetime full of medications, electrolyte balancing and seizures. If these rodents, fleas and ticks

are not controlled, it increases the chances of a hiker or camper becoming infected with a very

serious and lifelong disease.

So, what exactly is climate change? Climate change used to be referred to as global

warming. It was unclear to scientists of what exactly was happening, and who was causing it.

Therefore they began to call it climate change, as they have now discovered the majority of

climate change is caused by humans. (Walker) Climate change is referred to as the rise in

temperatures of the earth’s surface. The biggest cause for climate change is the emissions of

greenhouse gases and the release of carbon dioxide. (Walker)

So, exactly how much has the temperature of the surface of our earth increased? “The

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported a linear trend demonstrating a

warming of 0.85°C in land and ocean surface temperatures from 1880 to 2012.” (Walker)

Although it may not look like a huge increase in such a long time, but there has been more

greenhouse emissions from 2000 to 2010 than there has been from 1880 to 2000. This is not

predicted to slow down and is actually expected to increase to as high as 5 degrees Celsius in

regards to the 1850–1900 surface temperatures. (Walker) This means by the 21st century the

earth could lose up to half of its diverse species, causing some species to go extinct completely

because how much the earth's surface is warming up. This will cause animals to die trying to

escape climate change. Which will cause detrimental effects to the food chain, making some

resources scarce for animals and humans.

Not only does climate change increase the surface temperature of the earth and water, it

causes more detrimental effects. As for glaciers, they have become more scarce. When these
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glaciers melt it does obvious things, like cause sea levels to rise. The rising temperatures has

caused two things to happen to the ocean, it has caused the water levels to rise, and all ice that

houses many species of arctic animals in it to melt.(“Climate Change.” The National Wildlife

Federation) Not only do these things occur, more detrimental things occur, such as a rise in the

pH of the water. The pH of the seawater is very important, as it is home to a huge diversity of

marine life. “The pH of surface seawater has decreased by 0.1 units since 1750 and is projected

to drop another 0.5 units by 2100…”(“Climate Change.” The National Wildlife Federation) A

decrease of just 0.1 does not seem to be very detrimental but to very sensitive life, it can cause

the death of a whole species, and if it continues to become more acidic climates due to CO2, the

marine life could become endangered severely.

Free-living animals are being affected by this rise in temperature and have three options.

These three options can be detrimental to themselves and other species habitats that they are

invading. The first thing they can do is to move to a different habitat, invading other species

habitat. The second way being adapting to their habitat, which is extremely hard and takes many

generations. Lastly being they will die, die of many different things from these changes.(Cho)

Many species will move and this is often times very dangerous. If they move to a new habitat,

this new habitat may not harbor the camouflage colors they need to hide from predators. They

also may be invading another species habitat, which may put that species life in danger. These

animals could also come in contact with animals who will compete for the same food source,

making it scarce. Many will move to higher or lower altitudes to escape these rising

temperatures. These changes are happening too fast for the majority of species to run from it,

making them stuck where they are to die. (Cho)

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Animals are able to adapt to changing climates. It can oftentimes be very difficult for a

species to adapt to their changing climates. This takes many years and many generations of

animals. By the time a species begins to adapt to a certain climate, the climate changes becoming

warmer, the weather becoming more erratic. Some species, such as insects have been able to

adapt. When the spring is warmer, the insects are emerging earlier. Some birds have began

laying their eggs earlier because of this. (Cho) These changes are not genetic, they are

behavioral, which is a lot easier to change. Animals who do not have to adapt genetically are

able to adapt to climate change in very small ways. These are two of the few lucky animals who

can adapt to climate change and be forced to run or die. Fish are moving further north to stay

cooler, making it harder for animals who prey on fish to get their food source, they are having to

rely on other food sources.

An animal that is very loved, yet largely affected by the change in temperature is the

green sea turtle. The sex of the sea turtle will always be determined by how warm or cold the

sand is that surrounds the eggs. When the spring is warmer this causes the sand to also rise in

temperature. When the sand is warmer it will produce more females. When the sand is cooler, it

will produce more males.(Cho) “In juvenile turtles, females now outnumber males by about 116

to 1.” (Cho) This is a very prevalent obvious issue because there are not enough males to

reproduce. These sea turtles are very sensitive to temperature, not only in determining the sex of

the turtle but also in the ability to live in their habitat as well. If the warmer areas continue to rise

in temperature this will cause only females to emerge, causing local extinction. Also, when

temperatures rise, like any other species, they will also try to migrate and escape the rising

temperatures. This would reduce the number of sea turtles left. This would cause them to become

an extremely endangered species.

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Beautiful turtles changing migration patterns on the coast due to the climate impact. from: Sabrina

Shankman “Climate Change Threatens Thousands of Species in our Lifetime” InsideClimate News, 8

Nov. 2018.

Another very common animal severely impacted by this issue is the polar bear. Everyone

knows about climate change in polar bears, but do people really understand the issue? Polar

bears mate, live and catch their prey on sea ice. As stated above, sea ice is deteriorating quickly,

taking their homelands away. The ice comes in the late fall and is gone by early spring. Giving

these animals a very small amount of time to hunt and breed, and to even live where these

animals are meant to. These animals are forced to migrate to land. As everyone knows, these

animals are extremely aggressive, more aggressive than any other bear. These animals are forced

to come in contact with humans, which can become dangerous for both the bear and humans.

These polar bears begin scavenging on land for food, a lot have turned to eating goose eggs.

Scientists have stated that goose eggs are not a very healthy alternative for these large predators.

(Dell'Amore)

Another arctic animal affected deeply by the increasing temperature of the surface, and

the melting of the ice is the Adelie Penguin. This type of penguins live in arctic climates. Their
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diet is based on a small species of animals called krill. (Dell'Amore) Krill live on the bottom side

of ice sheets, but as mentioned many times, arctic sea ice is declining at a very rapid pace.

Therefore, the krill availability has declined tremendously, making it harder for these penguins to

find their food source. Thus making them have to travel further north to find food, wasting a

large amount of energy. When these animals waste energy and time on finding food, it declines

their success rates of breeding and raising their young. This has caused a noticeable decline in

the population of these penguins, which could quickly turn these animals endangered.

(Dell'Amore)

The Indiana Bat is yet another example of an animal affected by climate change. These

bats tend to live in the Eastern and Western parts of the United States. These bats will hibernate

in caves and mines, with a temperature range of 3-7.2 degrees celsius. (Mckelvey) These animals

will mainly hibernate in the Southeast and Midwest. These areas are becoming warmer, which is

causing them to move more North. In the North there is a fungus from Europe that causes a

deadly disease in these bats called White Nose Syndrome. This syndrome can wipe out up to

72% of this species of bat. (Mckelvey)

The American Pika is another example of an animal affected by climate change directly.

The Pika is a small rodent-like laphous animal that lives in alpine areas in western US.

(Mckelvey) This animal has declined tremendously in the last few decades, which is loosely

related to climate change. This animal is sensitive to cold and even more sensitive to warmer

temperatures. They have snowpacks which retain water for times they have no access to water.

The way the American Pika reacts to the change in the temperature of the surface is to typically

travel to higher altitudes, which can be very dangerous for them. This can cause a lot of stress

and unwanted predators to prey on them. It can also cause them to not be very good at
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camouflaging into new climates, as they were not meant for those specific areas. Analyses

suggest that both chronic stresses, extreme climates of too warm or too cold temperatures,

stressors from the temperature, and food production has had a huge decline in the species over

the last few decades. (Mckelvey)

The North Atlantic Cod is a type of fish that is affected by climate change. Originally, the

cause for this type of fish to decline was overfishing. Now, it is a bigger and harder issue to face,

climate change. Usually this species of Cod will bounce back and grow larger in the number of

fish after a short period of time. Scientists have recently discovered these fish are not bouncing

back in their numbers like they used to. This is believed to be linked to climate change and the

idea of the fish trying to escape the warming temperatures, leaving less time to reproduce and

repopulate again. (Dell’Amore)

People have realized that there needs to be changes made. It took a long time but people

have finally realized the effects of climate change. In 2015 the Paris Agreement was introduced.

The Paris Agreement is an agreement that was made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

produced by humans. “The Paris Agreement calls for reducing global warming emissions enough

to have a reasonable chance of keeping warming below 2 degrees Celsius.” (Shankman) If

people are able to reduce the temperature of the earth’s surface from more than 4 degrees to less

than 2 degrees, it can make a huge difference for our species of animals. This is just by half, just

a little over two degrees, which does not seem like much, but it can make a huge difference for

every species on the planet. If we do not reduce the emissions the world could potentially lose

over half of the species from a study of grid cells done by a group of scientists.(Shankman) If

people can reduce the gas emissions to at least slow the pace of the temperature rise, people can

reduce the number of these species predicted to become extinct to about one quarter instead of
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half. That is cutting the number in half, which can be done easily with the right tools.

(Shankman)

There are many things humans do that cause a lot of harm to the earth, which affects

climate change. “A single gallon of gasoline, when burned, puts 19 pounds of carbon dioxide

into the atmosphere.” (“Climate Change.” The National Wildlife Federation) With many

different simple things people can do to help reduce CO2 emissions, there should not be such a

high number of CO2 in the atmosphere. Larger, more effective things that can help slow the

process of climate change is things like making homes more energy efficient. Another thing

people can do is buy cars who are hybrid or have good gas mileage, reducing the need for fossil

fuels. People could do things such as solar panels on their homes to wind power for buildings to

reduce the need for energy, also saving themselves money by reducing their energy bill.

(Dell'Amore)

People create more of an effect on the earth than they would like to believe. “US

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that carbon dioxide emissions from all

human activities account for approximately 80% of the total annual greenhouse gas emissions

within the United States” (Walker) The United States alone will create more than 3 times the

amount of emissions than any other continent. This is a very large and alarming number. A small

thing people can do around their houses to reduce greenhouse emissions is plant more trees on

their property. Also, reducing the amount of power used in a home, turning lights off when not in

use, also, unplugging electronics if they are not in use. People can also reduce their use of

plastics and recycle recyclable plastics and glasses. If everyone would participate and take these

measures seriously, the world could become cleaner and aid in slowing the incline of earth's

temperature.
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In conclusion, Climate change is in fact real and it is causing detrimental effects on the

ecosystem and in economics. Climate change is affecting animals in their natural habitat and

they cannot adapt fast enough. Humans are the biggest players in climate change, therefore they

are the ones who can change it the most. People have created more than 75% of the total

emissions of greenhouse gases in just the United States. (Walker) Humans have created a huge

increase in temperature of every one of the earth’s surfaces, if it does not slow down, the planet

is in trouble. People need to slow the process of climate change because it will affect people

when it goes too far. Not to mention, there will be a huge decrease in animal diversity, which

many people enjoy looking at and learning about. Our planet needs humans the most right now,

make a change.

Work Cited

Cho, Renee, et al. “What Helps Animals Adapt (or Not) to Climate Change?” State of the

Planet, 3 Apr. 2018, https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2018/03/30/helps-animals-adapt-not-climate-

change/.

“Climate Change.” The National Wildlife Federation, Observed Impacts of Climate Change

in the United States, Pew Center on Global Climate Change National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Threats-to-Wildlife/Climate-

Change

Dell'Amore, Christine. “7 Species Hit Hard by Climate Change-Including One That's

Already Extinct.” National Geographic, 5 July 2016,

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https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/4/140331-global-warming-climate-change-ipcc-

animals-science-environment/#close.

McKelvey, K.S.; Perry, R.W.; Mills, L.S. 2013. The Effects of Climate Change on

Mammals. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Climate Change Resource Center.

www.fs.usda.gov/ccrc/topics/wildlife/mammals

Nuria Almiron & Catia Faria, 2019. "Climate Change Impacts on Free-Living Nonhuman

Animals. Challenges for Media and Communication Ethics," Studies in Media and

Communication, Redfame publishing, vol. 7(1), pages 37-48, June 2019.

Shankman, Sabrina, et al. “Climate Change Threatens Thousands of Species in Our

Lifetime.” InsideClimate News, 8 Nov. 2018,

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13032018/climate-change-species-at-risk-biodiversity-

plants-animal-migration-global-warming.

Walker, William H., et al., “Global Climate Change and Invariable Photoperiods: A

Mismatch That Jeopardizes Animal Fitness.” Wiley Online Library, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 16

Aug. 2019, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ece3.5537.