The extinction crisis in a warming world
How climate change is intensifying threats to nature — and what can be done
Story by Ian James and Sammy Roth | Photographs by Marilyn Chung and Jay Calderon, The Desert Sun | April 18, 2016
SNIPPET:The world is losing creatures at an accelerating rate: Species of frogs, lizards, fish and birds have all gone extinct as their habitats have been fragmented, degraded and destroyed by humans. Now, as the Earth grows warmer due to the burning of fossil fuels, the rapid disruption of the climate is placing even bigger stresses on species that are already struggling to survive.
Scientists have warned that unless humans act quickly to protect the natural world from habitat losses and the ravages of climate change, more than a third of all plant and animal species on the planet could disappear by the end of the century.
In every corner of the United States, animals are threatened by climate change, from chinook salmon in California to the Illinois chorus frog and endangered birds in the rainforests of Hawaii. So many plants and animals are at risk that scientists and conservationists are increasingly calling for new, more ambitious approaches to saving species and habitats.
Those strategies include aggressive interventions to protect species that are on the verge of dying out, and efforts to conserve larger wilderness areas and “corridors” that connect patches of fragmented habitat. There is also a growing push for better data to help prioritize the areas and species that are most vulnerable.
http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/environment/2016/04/18/extinction-crisis-warming-world/82642298/