What is the effect of Climate Change on Biodiversity in Tropical Oceans? How does Climate Change affect biodiversity?

Sakshi Education

By Srirangam Sriram, Sriram's IAS, New Delhi.

To estimate the effect of climate change on species, scientists use what they call a climatic envelope (sometimes also referred to as a bioclimatic envelope), which is the range of temperatures, rainfall and other climate-related parameters in which a species currently exists.
As the climate warms, the geographic location of climatic envelopes will shift significantly, possibly even to the extent that species can no longer survive in their current locations.
Such species will need to follow their climatic envelopes by migrating to cooler and moisture environments, usually uphill or southwards in the southern hemisphere.
Marine species will also need to adapt to warmer ocean temperatures.
In many cases, however, such migration might not be possible because of unfavourable environmental parameters, geographical or human-made barriers and competition from species already in an area.
Habitat reduction and fragmentation pose a problem because it limits the ability of many species to migrate to areas with favourable conditions. Species on mountain-tops, islands and peninsulas will have a similar problem.