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As Climate Changes Animals and Plants Move To New Locations; However They Are Not Always Welcome
Climate change leads to changes in temperature and humidity. Environments that were once ideal for animals and plants no longer meet their needs. Species adapt by moving to new areas that have more compatible habitats. Many species move to higher ground.
The difficulty lies in that the current policies defining aliens and natives. We define the relocated species as an alien as they were not historically native to their new habitat. As the plants and animals move to new habitats, they may indeed impact the existing native species. This raises the question of do we treat them as intrusive aliens or species we want to save that can no longer survive in their former locations. There is no simple or easy answer to this dilemna.
To read more about climate change and native species go to the Wired Science article: Climate Change Blurs Definition of Native Species | Wired Science | Wired.com.
Related Articles
- Science & the Public: When to welcome ‘invading’ species (sciencenews.org)
- Climate change affects geographical range of plants (eurekalert.org)
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