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Extinctions Due to Global Warming Predicted
PizzaFace writes "A study being published today in Nature predicts that global warming will doom 15 to 37 percent of plants and animals to extinction by 2050, according to various news sources. The study looked at how predicted warming would affect the suitability of the areas that particular species inhabit, and whether displaced species would be able to migrate to suitable habitat. Many of the unlucky species are being caught between the hammer of global warming and the anvil of habitation destruction." The BBC has a story about climate engineering: long-range planning on making major changes in order to reduce the effects of global warming.
This is very, very, VERY bad. People do not realize how sensitive our coral reefs are to even the most minor climate change, and how coral reefs are the most bio-diverse areas on the planet. We are only just now beginning to understand some of the complex symbiotic relationships that exist in these precious areas.
It's in all likelihood that studying the behavior of all these organisms will result in great leaps in medical and bioscience, but these resources are likely to disappear before we recognize their importance.
It will be a suitable epitaph for humanity I guess.