INTRODUCTION

The weather condition or pattern of an area which has been recorded over a long period of time using statistical data, ranging an average of 30 – 35 years is referred to as climate. The word climate seems to be often confused with weather. They have two different meanings; Weather is defined as the atmospheric condition of a particular place or region in a short period of time. It can occur spontaneously and it can also change in a matter of minutes. Climate and weather can be distinguished majorly by their respective measure of time as climate is the pattern of atmospheric behaviour over a relatively long period of time frame and weather is the pattern of atmospheric behaviour in a short period of time. Climate involves the total evaluation of the average humidity, temperature sunshine wind precipitation frost, hailstorm, fog and other parameters/measures of weather that prevails over a long period of time. For instance, after studying some ecological measures (weather related) over a period of time, scientists can actually deduce if there is a change in the climate of an area or not.

Climate Change

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2014), the change in climatic conditions of different regions or a particular region is currently a challenging situation mainly encountered by different related bodies/ fields like plant biologists, agriculturists and even conservation biologist. With the resulting effects of anthropogenic activities (global warming) continually rising, there has been a forecasted increase in the Carbon dioxide (CO2) level in the atmosphere which is expected to result in variation of temperature and precipitation. These factors in one way or another affect plant ecophysiology, distribution and status as regards relationship / interactions with other organisms.

Response of Species to Rapid Climate Change

Following the statements of Sullivan and Clark (2007), rapid climate change has majorly two impacts on species; direct and indirect. These two effects are not independent of each other as the effect of the effects of one leads to the creeping in of the effects of the other towards the species diversity. The direct impact consists of those arising as a result of temperature rise, CO2 increase which are majorly caused by global climate change. At the most basic level of biodiversity, climate change is able to decrease genetic diversity of populations due to directional selection and rapid migration, which could in turn affect ecosystem functioning and resilience (Botkin et al., 2007). Furthermore, the various effects on populations are likely to change the interactions at the community level. These direct effects result to numerous potential indirect effects, like changes in the hydrologic cycles (precipitation and evaporation) and also increase in the frequency of extreme weather events. These changes influence biodiversity in numerous ways (positive or negative) which include change in the timing of important events that influence the reproduction and survival of species.

In 2007, Sullivan and Clark also described in general, three possible responses of species that maybe affected to global climate change, which are ―change, move, or die. Species may adapt by altering life cycles or by extending the ranges of their habitat to a more suitable, generally cooler climate, or finally can become drastically reduced in a region or extinct as the case maybe. There are evidences that the three responses are occurring worldwide as plant and animal species are already migrating towards the poles or to higher elevations, hatching earlier, blooming earlier, or even evolving very fast. Species-specific differences in the reaction to climate change can become particularly important when interacting species, such as plants and their pollinators, are considered.

Bellard and colleagues, (2012) also stated that due to climate change, species might not adapt through fluctuations set by the environmental conditions in a given region and could therefore fall outside their climatic niche. For adaptation to occur, individuals, populations or species must develop resistant and adaptive responses, which might involve certain mechanisms. The first mechanism would be for a given species to acclimate as fast as possible to enable it to keep up with the rapid pace of changing climate via flexibility which provides a measure of short-term responses within individual lifetimes. This may involve intraspecific variation in morphological, physiological or behavioural traits, which can occur at different temporal scales within the spatial range of the populations.

Another type of response is a genetic one, where micro-evolution takes place. In this case, species can genetically adapt to new conditions through mutations or selection of the existing genotypes. Evolution can be very rapid through mutation and selection and this could allow species with short life cycles to adapt successfully to serious environmental changes. However, many plant species show a unique and often slow response to environmental changes, which is related to specific plant life history traits. It may take many generations for genetic drift to have a significant impact on population genetic structure.

Article by the students of the Department Of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Technology Minna, Niger State, Nigeria.

OSUJI ANDERSON U.
AJADI ABDULSALAM K.
TAJUDEEN BASHEERAT A.

Emmycheeze:
INTRODUCTION

The weather condition or pattern of an area which has been recorded over a long period of time using statistical data, ranging an average of 30 – 35 years is referred to as climate. The word climate seems to be often confused with weather. They have two different meanings; Weather is defined as the atmospheric condition of a particular place or region in a short period of time. It can occur spontaneously and it can also change in a matter of minutes. Climate and weather can be distinguished majorly by their respective measure of time as climate is the pattern of atmospheric behaviour over a relatively long period of time frame and weather is the pattern of atmospheric behaviour in a short period of time. Climate involves the total evaluation of the average humidity, temperature sunshine wind precipitation frost, hailstorm, fog and other parameters/measures of weather that prevails over a long period of time. For instance, after studying some ecological measures (weather related) over a period of time, scientists can actually deduce if there is a change in the climate of an area or not.

Climate Change

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2014), the change in climatic conditions of different regions or a particular region is currently a challenging situation mainly encountered by different related bodies/ fields like plant biologists, agriculturists and even conservation biologist. With the resulting effects of anthropogenic activities (global warming) continually rising, there has been a forecasted increase in the Carbon dioxide (CO2) level in the atmosphere which is expected to result in variation of temperature and precipitation. These factors in one way or another affect plant ecophysiology, distribution and status as regards relationship / interactions with other organisms.

Response of Species to Rapid Climate Change

Following the statements of Sullivan and Clark (2007), rapid climate change has majorly two impacts on species; direct and indirect. These two effects are not independent of each other as the effect of the effects of one leads to the creeping in of the effects of the other towards the species diversity. The direct impact consists of those arising as a result of temperature rise, CO2 increase which are majorly caused by global climate change. At the most basic level of biodiversity, climate change is able to decrease genetic diversity of populations due to directional selection and rapid migration, which could in turn affect ecosystem functioning and resilience (Botkin et al., 2007). Furthermore, the various effects on populations are likely to change the interactions at the community level. These direct effects result to numerous potential indirect effects, like changes in the hydrologic cycles (precipitation and evaporation) and also increase in the frequency of extreme weather events. These changes influence biodiversity in numerous ways (positive or negative) which include change in the timing of important events that influence the reproduction and survival of species.

In 2007, Sullivan and Clark also described in general, three possible responses of species that maybe affected to global climate change, which are ―change, move, or die. Species may adapt by altering life cycles or by extending the ranges of their habitat to a more suitable, generally cooler climate, or finally can become drastically reduced in a region or extinct as the case maybe. There are evidences that the three responses are occurring worldwide as plant and animal species are already migrating towards the poles or to higher elevations, hatching earlier, blooming earlier, or even evolving very fast. Species-specific differences in the reaction to climate change can become particularly important when interacting species, such as plants and their pollinators, are considered.

Bellard and colleagues, (2012) also stated that due to climate change, species might not adapt through fluctuations set by the environmental conditions in a given region and could therefore fall outside their climatic niche. For adaptation to occur, individuals, populations or species must develop resistant and adaptive responses, which might involve certain mechanisms. The first mechanism would be for a given species to acclimate as fast as possible to enable it to keep up with the rapid pace of changing climate via flexibility which provides a measure of short-term responses within individual lifetimes. This may involve intraspecific variation in morphological, physiological or behavioural traits, which can occur at different temporal scales within the spatial range of the populations.

Another type of response is a genetic one, where micro-evolution takes place. In this case, species can genetically adapt to new conditions through mutations or selection of the existing genotypes. Evolution can be very rapid through mutation and selection and this could allow species with short life cycles to adapt successfully to serious environmental changes. However, many plant species show a unique and often slow response to environmental changes, which is related to specific plant life history traits. It may take many generations for genetic drift to have a significant impact on population genetic structure.

Article by the students of the Department Of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Technology Minna, Niger State, Nigeria.

OSUJI ANDERSON U.
AJADI ABDULSALAM K.
TAJUDEEN BASHEERAT A.

Climate change have caused lot of harm than good to life. Change of climatic conditions such as temperature have cause some animals to their habitat, resulted to their migration to other place or habitat with considerable environmental conditions, some animals try to adapt and those that can't migration or adapt face high risk of becoming extinct. There should be call for reduction of CO to the environment from industrial processes, vehicle, home by utilisation of other methods with less emissions of CO.

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Emmycheeze:
INTRODUCTION

The weather condition or pattern of an area which has been recorded over a long period of time using statistical data, ranging an average of 30 – 35 years is referred to as climate. The word climate seems to be often confused with weather. They have two different meanings; Weather is defined as the atmospheric condition of a particular place or region in a short period of time. It can occur spontaneously and it can also change in a matter of minutes. Climate and weather can be distinguished majorly by their respective measure of time as climate is the pattern of atmospheric behaviour over a relatively long period of time frame and weather is the pattern of atmospheric behaviour in a short period of time. Climate involves the total evaluation of the average humidity, temperature sunshine wind precipitation frost, hailstorm, fog and other parameters/measures of weather that prevails over a long period of time. For instance, after studying some ecological measures (weather related) over a period of time, scientists can actually deduce if there is a change in the climate of an area or not.

Climate Change

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2014), the change in climatic conditions of different regions or a particular region is currently a challenging situation mainly encountered by different related bodies/ fields like plant biologists, agriculturists and even conservation biologist. With the resulting effects of anthropogenic activities (global warming) continually rising, there has been a forecasted increase in the Carbon dioxide (CO2) level in the atmosphere which is expected to result in variation of temperature and precipitation. These factors in one way or another affect plant ecophysiology, distribution and status as regards relationship / interactions with other organisms.

Response of Species to Rapid Climate Change

Following the statements of Sullivan and Clark (2007), rapid climate change has majorly two impacts on species; direct and indirect. These two effects are not independent of each other as the effect of the effects of one leads to the creeping in of the effects of the other towards the species diversity. The direct impact consists of those arising as a result of temperature rise, CO2 increase which are majorly caused by global climate change. At the most basic level of biodiversity, climate change is able to decrease genetic diversity of populations due to directional selection and rapid migration, which could in turn affect ecosystem functioning and resilience (Botkin et al., 2007). Furthermore, the various effects on populations are likely to change the interactions at the community level. These direct effects result to numerous potential indirect effects, like changes in the hydrologic cycles (precipitation and evaporation) and also increase in the frequency of extreme weather events. These changes influence biodiversity in numerous ways (positive or negative) which include change in the timing of important events that influence the reproduction and survival of species.

In 2007, Sullivan and Clark also described in general, three possible responses of species that maybe affected to global climate change, which are ―change, move, or die. Species may adapt by altering life cycles or by extending the ranges of their habitat to a more suitable, generally cooler climate, or finally can become drastically reduced in a region or extinct as the case maybe. There are evidences that the three responses are occurring worldwide as plant and animal species are already migrating towards the poles or to higher elevations, hatching earlier, blooming earlier, or even evolving very fast. Species-specific differences in the reaction to climate change can become particularly important when interacting species, such as plants and their pollinators, are considered.

Bellard and colleagues, (2012) also stated that due to climate change, species might not adapt through fluctuations set by the environmental conditions in a given region and could therefore fall outside their climatic niche. For adaptation to occur, individuals, populations or species must develop resistant and adaptive responses, which might involve certain mechanisms. The first mechanism would be for a given species to acclimate as fast as possible to enable it to keep up with the rapid pace of changing climate via flexibility which provides a measure of short-term responses within individual lifetimes. This may involve intraspecific variation in morphological, physiological or behavioural traits, which can occur at different temporal scales within the spatial range of the populations.

Another type of response is a genetic one, where micro-evolution takes place. In this case, species can genetically adapt to new conditions through mutations or selection of the existing genotypes. Evolution can be very rapid through mutation and selection and this could allow species with short life cycles to adapt successfully to serious environmental changes. However, many plant species show a unique and often slow response to environmental changes, which is related to specific plant life history traits. It may take many generations for genetic drift to have a significant impact on population genetic structure.

Article by the students of the Department Of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Technology Minna, Niger State, Nigeria.

OSUJI ANDERSON U.
AJADI ABDULSALAM K.
TAJUDEEN BASHEERAT A.

uote author=ajadiabdul post=71793384]
Climate change have caused lot of harm than good to life. Change of climatic conditions such as temperature have cause some animals to their habitat, resulted to their migration to other place or habitat with considerable environmental conditions, some animals try to adapt and those that can't migration or adapt face high risk of becoming extinct. There should be call for reduction of CO to the environment from industrial processes, vehicle, home by utilisation of other methods with less emissions of CO. [/quote]

I've learnt from this write up.

Lala, pls move this thread to front page. It's highly informative.

very educative