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Global Warming Will Bring 'Global Weirding'

By Harry Kimball, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 21, 2009 2:41 AM CDT

(Newser) – While the physical changes brought on by global warming—droughts, floods, and the like—are fairly easy to model, the effect on ecosystems is disconcertingly unpredictable, John Waldman writes in Yale Environment 360. Species will shift migration patterns and seek new homes, affecting other species in ways we can't imagine. Waldman fears so-called “global weirding” will be “a most apropos, if not downright tepid, label.”

As the climate changes, Waldman posits, conditions will mirror the disastrous human-fueled importation of foreign species that has already ravaged ecosystems. Even short-term studies have already shown drastic changes in the balance of species in areas around the world. “The biotic scrambling to come will indeed be weird, or worse,” Waldman concludes.

[Images (3)]

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A herd of elephants with Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background. (AP Photo)

A dead Northern pike floating along the shore of Lake Davis, near Portola, Calif. (AP Photo)

A polar bear and cub. (AP Photo)

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With warming, we can predict generally that there will be big winners, big losers, and draws among such species, but attempts to accurately predict these changes are far beyond our present capabilities. - John Waldman

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 12 comments

sailor86

Apr 6, 2009 2:28 AM CDT

Where did you get your H.S. diploma? Kmart? Your mastery of logic and reasoning is breathtaking.

Hip

Mar 26, 2009 1:20 AM CDT

Yeah, there's never been anything like the human race...except for the dinosaurs who ruled the Earth for MILLIONS of years. No they weren't burning fossil fuels but they were dropping huge amounts of methane. If you're worried about CO2 check and see how powerful a green house gas methane is.

Forderon

Mar 24, 2009 2:34 AM CDT

The "there have always been ice ages and warming periods, it's all cyclical" argument misses one important thing: There has never been anything like the human race in the history of the earth that go so drastically and haphazardly change the ecosystem without regard or respect for the biosphere. How/why do people ignore this very simple fact?

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climate change • weird news • global warming • predicting the future • animal • invasive species • ecosystem

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