The World after 2.5 Million Years (Coursework Sample)

The World after 2.5 Million Years
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The World after 2.5 Million Years
Global climate change has been a main concern in the recent past. In fact it is a problem of the 21st century that has slowly become worse. Climatic changes have been caused by some factors and pinpointing to one isolated reason is to be narrow-minded in understanding its causes. The main contributor to these climatic changes is global warming. Global warming is the increase in the temperatures of the earth that the amount of heat and energy retained within the earth causes an imbalance (Weir, 2002). However, there are various causes of global warming such as human activities. This paper gives a perspective of the earth’s condition after 2.5 million years as a result of global warming. It is an exploration of all the ecosystems and biodiversity that is affected because of the climatic changes. The earth will be transformed beyond recognition because of global climatic changes.
Over the years, Scientists have drawn the conclusions of the areas of life, both terrestrial and marine life, which will be adversely affected due to constant climatic changes. The changes tend to lean more to the negative end as opposed to positive functions (Weir, 2002). These means that, as time progresses so will the changes become worse and harsh on all life unless measures are taken to reduce the damage. Some of the areas that will be covered in this paper that will continue to experience changes include; the plant and animal life environment, freshwater environment, species evolution, ecosystem shifts and extraterrestrial factors.
Plant and animal life will take a different shape in the next 2.5 million years. The scope of change is broad. Global warming is caused by the greenhouse effect that makes gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide be trapped within the earth’s atmosphere (Shepherd & Wingham, 2009). Photosynthetic processes need carbon dioxide as a main element, because of that the plant life will quickly multiply. The excess amounts of carbon dioxide will make the vegetation increase but decrease its nutritional value (U.S Geological Survey, 2009). However, as the carbon dioxide continues to diminish from the earth due to weathering processes that convert the gas into carbonates so will the plant life.
At first the plants will try and adapt to making food with fewer amounts of carbon dioxide. In the long run, part of the plant life will not be able to survive in such conditions. Amounts of carbon dioxide are expected to oscillate in amounts contained in the earth and because of that; plants will flourish during its high concentrations and vice versa (Shepherd & Wingham, 2009). Concentrations of the carbon dioxide would also be as a result of the animal life that exhales the gas. Organisms that are still capable to photosynthesize at critical levels of carbon dioxide may disappear because soaring temperatures and loss of the biosphere (Christensen, 2005).
The changes in growth and survival of plants, the change in crop production will pose a challenge in securing the world food baskets. People may suffer the lack of food security and, as a result, die of starvation. Conversely, animals have a better chance of survival than plants. According to Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee authors of the book life and death of planet earth, animal life will continue to live even after most of the plant life has disappeared. They argue that animals will look for alternative ways of surviving such as turning carnivorous on each other. Besides, most of the animal will migrate in the search of environments to continue thriving in.
Since the earth’s temperatures begun to rapidly rising, migration of birds and animals has been northwards or to the higher altitudes cause of cooler temperatures (Soden & Held, 2010). Even if the animals are driven to the poles in search of cooler places to live, they will end up hibernating. Currently, the earth is experiencing more hot days as compared to the cool days. Animals will become less intelligent as they will hibernate during the day when there is intense heat then be active at night thus, making them nocturnal. Life will then be mostly found in the oceans leaving the surface of the earth a desolate desert. In a report published on the Nature Climate Change effects of global warming may lead to the loss of at least one-half of plant life and one-third and animal life (Soden & Held, 2010).
Eutrophication is a phenomenon where there is an accumulation of nutrients in a fresh water lake leading to the overproduction of water plants such as algae. Fresh water environments are not exempted from the effects of long time global warming and eutrophication is a major concern. Lakes will be covered by layers and layers of plant material, which will cut out the oxygen supply to life inside the lake. Fishes and other organisms within the lake or any freshwater environments will end up dying. The increase in eutrophication in lakes will lead to an eventual loss of the freshwater biodiversity. The water will be unfit for any use. For instance, recreational purposes and domestic uses (Stainforth, et al., 2005). Another eventuality will be the drying of the lakes because of extreme evaporation caused by high temperatures. Drying up of the lakes will make the extinction of species of fish and other microorganisms. “Prior to drying up of the lakes, the problem will be compounded by the expansion of diseases associated with lake ecosystems” (Stainforth, et al., 2005).
Extinction of species will be inevitable. Both plant and animal life will either have to adapt or be wiped off the surface of the earth. Anthony Barnosky and Brian Kraatz, in their article role of climatic change in the evolution of mammals, state that extinction of animal life is as a result of its inability to evolve (Stainforth, et al., 2005). Extinction is as a result of not adapting to the new changes, conditions and environment. Evolution, on the other hand, accords the species with a longer life span because it has manipulated its body system to be positively receptive to stimuli in new conditions and environment. In 2.5 million years, animal and plant life will face extinction when evolving is an unachievable goal.
According to Sabine (2010) ocean levels have risen to points where they erode the coastal places. Sea level changes are as a result of snow and ice melting at the poles. High temperatures handle the continual melting of snow and ice at the caps. When the ice has melted into water, it flows into the ocean thus, raising the levels. Also, melting of the snow at the caps exposes surfaces such that some are sun blocking, reflecting the sun that reduces the heat and energy. Conversely, some surfaces that are exposed absorb the heat coming from the sun’s rays which in turn further increases the water levels.
Rising of the sea levels will lead to sinking of locations around the coast and beaches. Due to over precipitation the rain patterns have changed such that instead of many rainy days the earth will experience hailstorms and rain storms that will destroy plant and animal life (Seager, et al., 2009). However, the precipitation can lead to excess loss of water which will bring about water shortages. The decrease in water supplies will also be as a result of the river drying out. Droughts will occur and famine that is worse than drought will be experienced in places where there is a lack of water supplies. These places include areas close to the deserts and arid areas. Heat waves will common experiences where more animal and plant life that cannot withstand the waves dying and facing extinction (Sabine, 2010).
However, the sea levels will oscillate depending on the river runoffs and degree of melting of the glacial and snow at the poles. Another, undesirable change will be the oceans acidity. Acidity will increase millions of years to come because the carbon dioxide levels will be high. Excess availability of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will lead to dissolving in the rainwater forming carbonic acid (Stainforth, et al., 2005). This water containing carbonic acid will then be continually deposited in the oceans leading to an increase in the ocean's acidity. Other sources of the acidity will be the chemicals and fertilizers that human beings will be using to increase crop production. Leaching, a process in which elements of the fertilizers or chemicals used, seep through the soil and into water sources such as rivers will contribute to the overall oceanic acidity (Robock, Marquardt, Kravitz & Stenchikov, 2009).
Acidity in the oceans will further lead to a chain-like reaction or action process where marine life will be threatened. Coral reefs existing in the sea will be eroded by the acid in the water (U.S Geological Survey, 2009). Organisms and marine life with shells will suffer the same thing. It should be noted that dissolving of the shells compromises the chances of survival of the organism and will in most cases lead to death. Worse still the increase in ocean acidity will make the oceans unfit for marine life existence. For example, exotic or rare species of fish or sharks may be lost.
Glacial deposits at different locations on earth have slowly been eroded. Erosion of these glaciations is normally in the form of melting. The glacial retreat will also make the water levels to increase in the oceans. Tectonic shifts over time are responsible for the rearrangements of the glacial deposits (Velicogna & Wahr, 2006). During that period, the glacial deposits will be reduced mainly because of high temperatures. Animals living at the poles whose environment consists of glacial deposits will be forced to move further north to maintain that niche they have had all their lives. In as much as they will be trying to adap...