Australia’s Unique Species Face ‘Unstoppable’ Climate Danger

AUSTRALIA’S UNIQUE SPECIES FACE ‘UNSTOPPABLE’ CLIMATE 

SYDNEY, Australia, September 19, 2012 (ENS) – The impact of climate change on Australia’s unique plants, animals and ecosystems will cause extinctions and lost ecosystem services and require new ways of thinking about biodiversity conservation, finds Australia’s national science agency.

Conducted by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, CSIRO, the study modeled 100 percent of Australia’s land mass and did detailed ecological analyses of four priority biomes, covering around 80 percent of Australia.

Eucalypt forest in Victoria, Australia (Photo by Fir0002/Flagstaffotos)

“Climate change is likely to start to transform some of Australia’s natural landscapes by 2030,” said lead researcher Dr. Michael Dunlop. “By 2070, the ecological impacts are likely to be very significant and widespread.”

“Many of the environments our plants and animals currently exist in will disappear from the continent,”  he said. “Our grandchildren are likely to experience landscapes that are very different to the ones we have known.”

Environment News Service (http://s.tt/1omBH)