“I don’t think it will be the humans. I think we’ll go quite early
on,” says Julie Gray with a laugh. I’ve just asked Gray, a plant
molecular biologist at the University of Sheffield, which species she
thinks would be the last ones standing if we don’t take
transformative action on climate change.
Even with our extraordinary capacity for innovation and adaptability,
humans, it turns out, probably won’t be among the survivors.
This
is partly because humans reproduce agonisingly slowly and generally just
one or two at a time – as do some other favourite animals, like pandas.
Organisms that can produce many offspring quickly may have a better
shot at avoiding extinction.
It may seem like just a thought
experiment. But discussing which species are more, or less, able to
survive climate change is disturbingly concrete.
As a blockbuster
biodiversity report stated recently,
one in every four species
currently faces extinction. Much of this vulnerability is linked to
climate change, which is bringing about higher temperatures,
sea level rise, more variable conditions and more extreme weather, among other impacts.
Read more at: BBC - Future - The animals that will survive climate change
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