Consequences for ecosystems, distribution and phenology
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Flip to reveal answersName the three main consequence-threads of climate-change warming for living things.
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All 8 Flashcards — Consequences for ecosystems, distribution and phenology
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Question
Name the three main consequence-threads of climate-change warming for living things.
Answer
**Distribution** (where species live), **ecosystem / community** change (who lives together) and **phenology** (when events happen).
Question
Define phenology.
Answer
The **timing of seasonal life-cycle events** — such as budburst, flowering, breeding and migration.
Question
In which direction do species' ranges tend to shift as the climate warms?
Answer
**Poleward** (towards the poles) and to **higher altitude**, following the cooler conditions they can tolerate.
Question
Predict the effect of shifting hardiness zones on a tree species.
Answer
The tree **spreads northwards / poleward** (and uphill) into newly-suitable ground, because the band of climate it can survive in has moved that way.
Question
How does warming change the community structure of an ecosystem?
Answer
**Warm-tolerant species are favoured and spread; cold-adapted species decline or are lost** — so the mix and abundance of species changes.
Question
What is a phenological (trophic) mismatch?
Answer
When a consumer and its food respond to **different cues**, warming shifts their timing by different amounts, so they fall **out of step** (e.g. caterpillars peak before chicks hatch).
Question
Why does a migrating bird often fail to track an earlier spring?
Answer
It responds to **day length**, which warming does **not** change, so it arrives on the same date while its temperature-cued food has already shifted earlier.
Question
Give one effect of warming on a freshwater ecosystem besides species range.
Answer
Warmer water holds **less dissolved oxygen**, stressing oxygen-demanding species and favouring warm-tolerant ones.
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Topic 4.12 hub
Climate change
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