Climate Change Impacts on Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecosystems

1. Climate Change Impacts on Terrestrial and
Aquatic Ecosystems
Prepared by: Diari Ali Ahmed
College of science
Biology department
Post graduate- High high Diploma
Ecology

2. Outlines
 Climate Change
 Why is it important to
study ecosystem?
 Impacts of Climate Change
on Terrestrial Ecosystem
 Aquatic Ecosystem
 Effects of Climate change
of Aquatic ecosystems
 Conclusion

3. Climate Change: is a long-term change in the average
weather patterns that have come to define Earth's
local, regional and global climates over a long period of
time
One component of climate change is global warming,
the long-term heating of Earth due to greenhouse
emissions.
Climate Change

4. Greenhouse gases (also known as GHGs) are gases in
the earth's atmosphere that trap heat. During the
day.
What is the greenhouse effect?
the sun shines through the atmosphere, warming the
earth's surface. At night the earth's surface cools,
releasing heat back into the air. But some of the heat
is trapped by the greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere.

6. An ecosystem is a group of organisms and non-living
components linked by processes of energy transfer
and cycling of components
Why is it important to study
ecosystem?
unless we understand the links, we cannot limit
damage, conserve or restore. This emphasises that
the study of ecosystems is a core part of biological
science

7. The type of ecosystems which are predominantly
found on land are called the terrestrial ecosystems.
What is a Terrestrial Ecosystem?
Terrestrial ecosystems cover approximately 140 to
150 million km2, which is about 25 to 30 percent of
the total earth surface area.

8. Types Of Terrestrial Ecosystems
Forest Grasslands Tundra Desert

9. Impacts of Climate Changes
Climate change has profound and multifaceted impacts
on forests worldwide.
Here are some key aspects of how climate change
affects these critical ecosystems:
 Temperature Increases
 Increased Frequency and
Severity of Wildfires
 Carbon Sequestration and
Storage
 Altered Precipitation Patterns

15. Impacts of Climate Change on grassland
Increasingly severe and frequent droughts, floods,
fires, and hurricanes are likely to affect grassland
ecosystems.
Drought exacerbates soil erosion and aquifer
depletion. Greater variability in precipitation will
favor more frequent fires, which can reduce
encroachment of woody plants into grasslands

20. tundra
The tundra biome is the coldest of all the forest
regions. The region has a minimal amount of
vegetation, with trees
The tundra biome also receives very little rainfall or
precipitation, moulding the land with frost.

21. Recent human impact on the tundra has been damaging
and disruptive. The delicate, small plants that grow on
the tundra are very easily disturbed.
Some tundra plants grow extremely slowly, and
because of the already short growing season, these
plants have a very hard time recovering from
disturbance.
Increase temperatures are experiencing more rapid
warming than other regions. This leads to a variety of
cascading effects on the flora, fauna, and overall
ecosystem.

25. Climate change effects on desert ecosystems
Deserts have been predicted to be one of the most
responsive ecosystems to global climate change.
Example keystone endemic plant of the Namib Desert
(Welwitschia mirabilis), for which displacement and
reduction of suitable climate has been foreseen under
future conditions.

26. Aquatic Ecosystem
An aquatic ecosystem is a community of organisms and
the physical environment they inhabit in a water
environment.
 Examples of aquatic ecosystem include oceans, lakes,
rivers, intertidal zone, reefs, seabed and ponds

27. Effects of Climate change of Aquatic ecosystems
1. Make more difficult to access safe drinking water,
especially for the most vulnerable children.
2. Around 74 percent of natural disasters between
2001 and 2018 were water-related, including
droughts and floods.
3. Around 450 million children live in areas of high or
extremely high water vulnerability. This means they
do not have enough water to meet their everyday
needs.

28. 4. Climate change exacerbates water stress – areas of
extremely limited water resources – leading to
increased competition for water, even conflict.
5. Rising sea levels are causing fresh water to become
salty, compromising the water resources millions of
people rely on.

29. The climate change influences both marine as
well as freshwater ecosystems:
1. Marine Ecosystem: Climate change can impact on
marine ecosystems through ocean warming, by increasing
thermal stratification and reducing upwelling
sea level rise and through increase in wave height and
frequency, loss of sea ice, increased risk of diseases in
marine biota and decrease in pH and carbonate ion
concentration of the surface oceans.

30. 2. Freshwater Ecosystem
Climate change impact on inland aquatic ecosystems will
range from the direct effects of the rise in
temperature and carbon dioxide concentration
To indirect effects through alterations in the hydrology
resulting from the changes in the regional or global
precipitation regimes and the melting of glaciers and ice
cover

31. Rapid climate change has many negative implications for
the biodiversity of rivers and streams. Climate change
may cause extension at several taxonomic levels.

32. CLIMATE CHANGE AND AQUATIC BIODIVERSITY
Biodiversity: describes the range of living organisms in
a given area considering the variety of life forms
Life forms within an ecosystem vary in their size and
shape from the simplest unicellular prokaryote to the
more complex multicellular eukaryotic organisms
The climate change has a huge impact on biodiversity
and farmers' practice

39. affect of Climate Change

41. Current
Temperate grasses
Grasslands
Deserts
Savanna
Tropical seasonal forests
Tropical moist forest
Wetland, mangrove etc
Agricultural land
Ice
Tundra
Boreal forests
2 x CO2
Restricted distributions, esp. northern hemisphere
Climate change and forests: impacts (long term)

42. Conclusion
The changes in climatic factors have a huge impact on the
biodiversity of a region. Factors such as increasing
temperatures and rising sea levels have impacted the
marine and terrestrial ecosystems hugely leading to
extinction of various species and many species have been
categorized as vulnerable or are at point of being declared
extinct. Factors such as deforestation, large scale
development and construction like dams and other big
developmental projects, clearing of forest land for
agriculture and other non- agricultural uses have
significantly impacted the biodiversity. The protection of
biodiversity becomes crucial in present time. It is
therefore important to understand the impacts of climate
change on the biodiversity and mitigation strategies should
be undertaken to reduce the damage caused by adverse
effects of climatic change on biodiversity.

43. REFERENCES
1. Comparing the impacts of climate change on the responses and linkages
between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems
2. Climate change effects on desert ecosystems: A case study on the keystone species of the
Namib Desert Welwitschia mirabilis
3. https://www.unicef.org/parenting/talking-your-child-about-climate-
change?gclid=Cj0KCQiA6vaqBhCbARIsACF9M6llmk2gshD9NN9oWR1CbVVTUihUv6cUTkw1CL
SOog1FntR6fISk4RMaAqAdEALw_wcB
4. https://www.globalgiving.org/learn/cost-to-end-climate-change/
5. https://byjus.com/biology/terrestrial-ecosystem/
6. https://www.weadapt.org/knowledge-base/nature-based-solutions/future-impacts-of-
climate-change-on-forests
7. https://www.fs.usda.gov/ccrc/topics/grasslands-and-climate-
change#:~:text=Increasingly%20severe%20and%20frequent%20droughts,plants%20into%20
grasslands%5B17%5D.
8. https://byjus.com/biology/aquatic-
ecosystem/#:~:text=Examples%20of%20aquatic%20ecosystem%20include,reefs%2C%20seab
ed%20and%20so%20on.
9. https://www.unicef.org/stories/water-and-climate-change-10-things-you-should-
know?gclid=CjwKCAiAsIGrBhAAEiwAEzMlCygiTXOPpRHJoyzUBjxai9UMktvtUg6if_BOqXxsqe
oG_lV4VHmJlBoCuQUQAvD_BwE