In this video, we will talk about the Greenhouse Gas effect in climate change that affects our

biodiversity.

Now, let us start with the basic idea,

The sun sends electromagnetic radiation around the solar system but we only get a small amount of it
because the atmosphere protects us from a large amount of that energy.

Now, let us go back to the atmosphere.

It has molecules that can absorb some of those electromagnetic waves that go inside the surface of the
earth, and that surface will lose its energy, and that goes back to the atmosphere, absorbed by the
molecules, which are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxides, and water vapor. (Water vapor, which
response physically or chemically to changes in temperature, is called feedback) and eventually, the
remaining electromagnetic waves will be reflected into space.

But what's happening now in our atmosphere is the increasing of molecules like carbon dioxide,
methane, and other greenhouse gases that hold the infrared radiation that causes it to have a
Greenhouse effect - the result is Global Warming. Because of the high temperature, we are facing an
ongoing climate change that affects the world including biodiversity.

But how do carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases increase in the atmosphere?

Everything we do have locally will have global consequences. From the food we eat, from the
transportation, from the electricity that every day and so many day-to-day human activities can have
global effects.

Increases in the amount of carbon dioxide mostly came from the burning of fossil fuels, when they are
burned which releases energy as well as a huge amount of carbon dioxide. Human waste and food waste
are also contributing to the greenhouse effect because it is also releasing methane, which is one of the
greenhouse gases. Because of global warming, the amount of Water vapor in the atmosphere is also
increasing, nitrous oxide mostly came from agriculture and wastewater, which is also abundant in the
world. These are just some of the reasons why we are now suffering from the greenhouse effect.

The ongoing Global warming will melt the green land and other ice continents or country that would
drastically affect biodiversity, the sea water level will rise up and almost the low-lying island or places
will disappear underwater or they will suffer from serious flooding threats like Holland and Maldives.
Aside from that, climate change is a great flooding threat to biodiversity; hurricanes, super typhoon
storm surge like Yolanda, and it is an enormous problem because we will be going to lose the places
therefore their habitats, and the species living in them. Some of these habitats are home rare and
belong to endangered species.

Apart from the actual change in sea level, the other major problem of biodiversity is Warming itself.
Remember, that every species has its optimal habitat and tolerance ranges and that includes all the
things that go along with living in the right temperature regime.

According to the IPCC estimates that a 4-degree Celsius increase, just over seven degrees Fahrenheit is
going to result in major extinction due to the inability of organisms to adapt to the changes.

It is this rate thing again, organisms can’t move to cooler areas fast enough or adapt fast enough.

Sure, some migratory animals can change their patterns of migration a bit but what about the organisms
that cannot change, the ones that cannot move?

Entire forests come to mind, think of mountain ranges, the forest will move further up the
mountainsides completely altering or displacing the entire ecosystems as they go, for example, endemic
beetles that only lives in the icy areas high on mountains. When the freezing places are disappearing,
the beetles are moving along with the colder temperature of that place but soon, they are going to run
out of that mountain.

Even marine ecosystems are not immune, when two degree Celsius increases in the ocean to about 3 ½
Fahrenheit, doesn’t sound like that much but it’s a lot because we’re talking about a huge amount of
extra heat over the entire large size of the ocean and we’ve been talking about an average number.
Some places are going to be warmer than that, and some are going to be cooler but an overall 2-degree
Celcius increase is enough to result in major coral reef die-offs. Reefs cannot respond to these rapid
temperature changes fast enough nor move to other places. Even assuming that another suitable
habitat was available. Those are some of the effects of global warming