The stratovolcano is one of the few peaks in Africa to retain glaciers. Since 2014 was the hottest year on record, best to hope the Ice Bucket Challenge cooled some people off. "Heat changes the way people feel and think, increasing anger and making thoughts of aggression increase," Richard Larrick, who studied the effects of heat on aggressive acts by baseball players, told the Washington Post. According to the analysis of 56 research papers on the subject, increased temperatures and fluctuating precipitation patterns are likely to cause an increase in both individual clashes, like fistfights, and larger brawls, like wars. And because bacteria play a role in soil fertility they also help to slow down desertification the replacement of one type of bacteria by another could have serious repercussions for the spread of deserts around the world.Ĭould rising temperatures also bring rising tempers? Recent research suggests they might. Bio-crusts can ease dust storms and provide resources for desert plants.īut despite thriving in harsh desert conditions, bacteria in cold deserts may not be able to cope with heat brought on by global warming others may take their place, and researchers aren’t sure what this will mean for the ecosystems. Millions of types of bacteria thrive under the desert sand, helping prevent erosion by forming thick, sturdy layers called bio-crusts. Micro-canyonlands formed by critical cyanobacterial soil crusts in Arches National Park, Utah. That’s great if you’re enjoying the ongoing Rise of Slime: Increased precipitation in Norway, for example, is sweeping organic matter into the ocean, making it cloudy as a result, some fish populations are declining while jellyfish populations boom. John Piatt, a research wildlife biologist at the United States Geological Survey. “While it may impact some species negatively, it might actually make things better for other species,” says Dr. Murky water makes it harder to hunt by sight, which means that birds including the Marbled Murrelet, gannets, and kittiwakes might struggle to find food. This is most likely to happen around coastal zones and estuaries, which is exactly where many birds and fish feed. As a result, scientists predict that some oceans and seas will get murkier. More sediment and organic matter will make its way into the oceans-either because it’s washed in by increased rainfall, or dumped from a melted glacier. This could seriously unbalance the population going forward. The sex of their offspring was determined solely by temperature-producing a lot more male-chromosome females. These dragons mated with other males, and even produced more eggs than true female dragons. Excessively hot temperatures (above 90 degrees Fahrenheit) seem to be making male Australian central bearded dragons ignore their male chromosomes and grow lady parts, scientists reported in Nature.Īmong 131 captured bearded dragons, 11 (all from particularly hot areas) had male chromosomes but lacked male sex organs. But this behavior is new in wild reptiles, and climate change may be to blame. Some fish and amphibians are known to spontaneously change sex midway through life. This might bring some relief to species that have suffered in the ants’ wake, like the Red-tailed Tropicbirds or Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, whose nestlings frequently fall prey to the fearsome Formicidae.Ĭentral bearded dragon in Australia. The big-headed ant, one of the world’s most invasive species, and one that has traditionally dominated any ecosystem it enters, may be stopped in its tiny tracks-or at least slowed down: A study of climate projections over the next six decades found that almost 20 percent of the ants’ climatic range will be lost as temperatures change. It’s not all bad news: Climate change might limit other invaders. Warming temperatures have expanded climatic ranges for many invasive and disease-ridden insects, from mountain pine beetles in the West to dengue- and malaria-carrying mosquitos in Europe and North America. Here are a few of the terrestrial surprises coming your way: Some you’ll love, others will be less…pleasant. The earth will develop lots of exciting new features as it warms. And you know that glaciers are melting, and storms are just going to get stronger and stronger. You’ve heard climate change is going to cause rising sea levels and warmer temperatures.