Animal Adaptations to Climate Change
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Danny Xu
2/2/20254 min read
Why do Animals Adapt to Climate Change?
As more greenhouse gasses are emitted into the atmosphere, worsening the problem of global warming, many animals are suffering through habitat loss and needing to change lifestyles due to the rising temperature that they are not used to. However, throughout the centuries and centuries that animals have been around for, animals have constantly been evolving and adapting to changes in their environment. Global warming is no different and some animals have already started to find ways to try and deal with this issue through adaptation.
Common Ways Animals are Adapting
A common way animals are simply changing locations. Some animals that are on lower ground have to move higher due to the rising sea levels from the melting glaciers that is a result of global warming. Some animals migrate very far away from where they once were to a more adequate location where they have to pick up different hunting techniques and learn new environments. However, this change in animals in habitats has a major impact on the food web. To be specific, if one species of animal leaves, then whatever other animal was either its prey or predator also gets affected. If the animal that leaves was prey, that makes it harder for the predator to be able to find food which then hurts the predator. Too much prey in an environment without predators disrupts the balance between prey and the resource it feeds on like plants. Overtime, this will also affect the prey. Another way animals are combating climate change is through physical adaptations. Some animals are changing color to absorb less heat from the sun and some are adjusting sizes of their body parts in ways that help stay cool. For example, some animals are getting bigger feat as a larger foot allows heat to leave the body quicker.
Sticklebacks Adaptation
One specific example of an animal adapting to global warming is the "stickleback". However, this adaptation is less related to directly coping with the effects of global warming. Stickleback that live in ponds have not developed a bony-like armor that the stickleback that live in bigger bodies of water have developed because they are able to hide in plants within the ponds. However, as global warming transforms bigger bodies of water into smaller ponds, those that used to have that bone like armor are starting to lose it as they don't require that adaptation anymore.
Tawny Owl
The tawny owl that usually lives in snowy environments has exhibited a color change as more snow is starting to melt due to global warming. When there was a lot of snow in the habitats that they lived in, the owls were a paler color of brown or even grey to help them blend in with the surrounding snow, but, since the heating up of the Earth leads to a lot of snow melting, the owls are becoming brown as this helps them blend in with the trees around them.
Marine Iguanas
Marine Iguanas like to prey on red and green algae. As the Earth warms up, many types of these algae's are not unable to adapt to the changing water temperature and other affects global warming brings to water. To deal with this, the marine iguana is able to make it's body smaller which allows it to require less food and adapt to the environment
In conclusion, even though some animals have found ways to adapt to climate change, that is no reason why climate change is still not a pressing issue that still affects all living organisms. Animals will have to keep on adapting as the Earth gets warmer, ocean levels rise more, and more changes occur in habitats. However, not every animal is able to constantly adapt as quickly as the problem of global warming is. That is why, it is important to stay mindful about greenhouse gas emissions and global warming as it could easily destroy the planet.
Sources:
Schowe, Devan. 2024. “The Fight to Stay Alive in a Rapidly Changing World: How Animals Are Adapting to Global Climate Change | Born Free USA.” Born Free USA. September 4, 2024. https://www.bornfreeusa.org/2024/09/04/the-fight-to-stay-alive-in-a-rapidly-changing-world-how-animals-are-adapting-to-global-climate-change/.
Balcombe, Jonathan. 2021. “How the Animal World Is Adapting to Climate Change.” The New York Times, September 29, 2021, sec. Books. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/29/books/review/how-the-animal-world-is-adapting-to-climate-change.html.
Thompson, Helen. 2014. “Ten Species That Are Evolving due to the Changing Climate.” Smithsonian. Smithsonian.com. October 24, 2014. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ten-species-are-evolving-due-changing-climate-180953133/.
Quaglia, Sofia. 2023. “These Animals Are Already Adapting to a Changing Climate | Sierra Club.” Www.sierraclub.org. August 17, 2023. https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/these-animals-are-already-adapting-changing-climate.