Connection: It not only directly affects ecosystems and species, but also interacts with other human stressors, such as growth. Although some stressors, when acting alone, cause only minor impacts, their cumulative impact can lead to dramatic ecological changes.[1] For example, climate change may exacerbate the stress placed on fragile coastal areas by land development.
Connection: There could be many effects on fish and other aquatic species from global warming. For the fish that inhabit that area, certain bodies of water may become too warm. The chemical composition of water can also be altered by global warming, so the amount of oxygen in the water can decrease, leaving pollution and salinity levels to increase. More than 20% of the freshwater fish in the world have become extinct, endangered in recent decades, or threatened. In southwest Florida, a 20 inch sea level rise will cause large losses of mangroves and wet prairie communities will decline with the rise of that sea level. There would be greater salinity from rising saltwater from the Florida Bay into the Everglades. The salinity increase would damage sawgrass and slough-containing freshwater ecosystems.
Connection: Plants also have little capacity to adapt to the climate that is changing. If global warming continues to grow, rainfall patterns, storms, and flood and drought cycles will occur, causing rapid changes in the worldwide range and distribution of plants. Scientists have demonstrated that global warming is real and in progress. ccThe effects on the ecosystem of the Earth could be devastating. Every plant and animal would be affected.
Connection: Sunlight makes its way to earth through the atmosphere where it is absorbed. Heat is the released back up into the atmosphere. Some heat is lost and some is absorbed by the atmosphere's greenhouse gasses, (CO2, methane, nitrous oxide and water vapour)
Connection: It is then bounced back (re-radiated) to earth
which warms the planet. This is called the greenhouse effect and has been vital to life on Earth. Since we begun burning fossil fuels more greenhouse gasses have been building up in the atmosphere. This traps even more heat and warms the planet even further.
Connection: If hotter temperatures lead to higher clouds, less infrared energy would be released into space. In other words, the greenhouse effect would be enhanced by higher clouds, reducing the ability of the Earth to cool and causing temperatures to warm.
Connection: Due to subtle shifts in its orbit, as the atmosphere or surface changed, or when the Sun's energy varied, climate changed when the planet received more or less sunlight. But another factor has begun to affect the Earth's atmosphere in the past century mankind.
Connection: Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a by-product of fossil fuel combustion—or burning—such as coal and oil. People have burned increasingly greater amounts of fossil fuels for energy since the Industrial Revolution. This energy has been used for heating homes, automotive operations, and the power industry. The amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere is also increasing as the practise of burning fossil fuels increases. O2 reacts with glucose (C6H12O6, a form of sugar) during the combustion process to produce water and CO2. Chemical energy in the form of heat and light is released as the organic material burns. The chemical process of combustion is described by the following chemical equation:
6 O2 + C6H12O6 -------> 6 H2O + 6 CO2 + energy.
Connection: The increasing emissions of greenhouse gases are one way in which humans have affected the climate. Greenhouse gases absorb radiation from infrared (long-wave, heat) sources. This is the form of energy from the sun reflected off the surface of the earth.
Connection: Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are anthropogenic compounds that are man-made. These greenhouse gases containing chlorine, fluorine, and carbon do not have a known natural source.