New Study Claims Global Warming Extinctions Have Begun
University of Texas biologist Camille Parmesan has summed up some 866 scientific studies in the December, 2006 issue of the journal Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics. You can read the abstract online for free, but to read the full study, you must be a subscriber.
Scientists are surprised at how quickly species are being forced to change to adapt to alterations in their environments, an article on CNN.com noted. I find it interesting to note that CNN.com, FoxNews.com and MSNBC.com all feature pictures of polar bears in their stories. People love polar bears.
Speaking of extinctions - here's an interesting article I found on MSNBC.com today about some new research on what happened in the oceans following a mass extinction 250 million years ago. It's not related to global warming, of course, but I include it to remind people that the Earth's biosphere is not a static thing. Changes, sometimes large, sudden, dramatic changes have occurred in the past and will occur again.
Oh, and another link from MSNBC.com while I'm at it. Seems California bird watchers had an extremely rare - as in "never before" rare - treat recently when a gull native to the Arctic was seen 100 miles east of San Diego. This was the first time this species has ever been seen in California, and to see it within 50 miles of the Mexican border is really amazing. I'm sure that's a sign that the new ice age is right around the corner, right?
