How Will Climate Change Effect our Environment?

Climate change is likely to have a substantial effect on biodiversity throughout the island of Ireland (.PDF 2.26Mb).
Animals and plants are limited in where they can live by a range of environmental factors. Climate is one of the most important of these.

A species’ ability to survive climate change will depend largely on its ability to move to a new area where its preferred climatic conditions still exist.

Warming temperatures will force species which are close to the southern limit of their range in Northern Ireland, to move northward or, alternatively, to higher altitude. If these options are not open then extinction becomes a possibility.
On the other hand, warming conditions will allow more southerly species to move northward.

Until the last two decades the little egret, a small heron, did not regularly occur closer to Northern Ireland than the Mediterranean. It is now well established in southern Ireland and it is only a matter of time before it breeds here.
While the little egret is a natural colonist, climate change may also provide an opportunity for accidentally introduced exotic species to become established. In the absence of their natural predators, these invasive species may compete with, and eventually exclude, native species.
Aggressively competitive plants may also be aided by a boost to their growth rate provided by higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Not all species respond to climate change at the same speed and this can result in vital relationships between species drifting out of step. For example, milder springs may allow insect-eating birds to lay eggs earlier but they may find that the caterpillars on which their chicks depend have emerged and developed even earlier and the nestlings consequently face a food shortage.

Drier summers are likely to affect wetland habitats. Some of these may dry up completely and many will suffer from reductions in oxygen content. Drying out of upland peatlands may have serious consequences for the supply of water at lower altitudes and may also result in the release of additional stored carbon. Increasingly frequent extreme weather events will also affect wildlife.

Extensive flooding can have damaging effects on land-living species but disturbance to stream beds and increased silt in the water can also be a threat to river-dwelling species such as salmon.

Droughts can have severe effects on plant growth and on soil animals, while heatwaves increase the likelihood of damaging wildfires, particularly on heathland.

Rising sea-level will threaten scarce coastal habitats such as saltmarsh and sand dunes.