Global warming will make some species STERILE as rising temperatures ruin their fertility, scientists warn
- The temperature animals become sterile at is lower than the fatal temperature
- Scientists believe this could be affecting population numbers of some animals
- Cold-blooded animals and aquatic species are thought to be most vulnerable
- More data and further research is needed to understand the implications of global warming on fertility
Species could become infertile because of rising temperatures, scientists warn.
Researchers are now investigating the impact global warming is having on these animals and which species could be in danger of extinction.
Scientists are currently focused on understanding how higher average temperatures kill species rather than how it that stop them from breeding.
Experts say understanding fertility is a key step for proper conservation.
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The flightless cormorant; pictured here in Hungary covered in ice, is one of the species which are at risk of losing fertility due to climate change. Scientists from the University of Liverpool want to look at the temperature that causes species to become sterile
Current analysis is based on temperatures which are deadly, however animals can become sterile at a lower temperatures.
'There is a risk that we are underestimating the impact of climate change on species survival because we have focused on the temperatures that are lethal to organisms, rather than the temperatures at which organisms can no longer breed,' explains evolutionary biologist Dr Tom Price from the University of Liverpool's Institute of Integrative Biology.
Bees and mosquitoes are two of the species, which are at risk of losing fertility due to climate change. Scientists from the University of Liverpool want to look at the temperature that causes species to become sterile
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Cold-blooded animals and aquatic species are thought to be most vulnerable to fertility loss caused by climate change.
Dr Price said: 'Currently the information we have suggests this will be a serious issue for many organisms. But which ones are most at risk?
'Are fertility losses going to be enough to wipe out populations, or can just a few fertile individuals keep populations going? At the moment, we just don't know. We need more data.'
Carp, and other fish, are some of the species from all around the world to have their fertility affected by increasing temperatures as a result of global warming
Coral life is one of the species which is at risk of losing fertility due to climate change. Scientists from the University of Liverpool want to look at the temperature that causes species to become sterile
The Scottish Primrose is one of the species which is at risk of losing fertility due to climate change. Scientists from the University of Liverpool want to look at the temperature that causes species to become sterile
To gather more data, researchers propose using something they call 'Thermal Fertility Limit' or TFL, to measure what temperatures causes species to become sterile.
Dr Price said: 'We think that if biologists study TFLs as well as CTLs then we will be able to work out whether fertility losses due to climate change is something to worry about.'
This study was published by the University of Liverpool.
WILL GLOBAL WARMING CAUSE SPECIES TO SHRINK?
A study conducted by the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada found that over the last century, the beetles in the region have shrunk.
By looking at eight species of beetle and measuring the animals from past and present they found that some beetles were adapting to a reduced body size.
The data also showed that the larger beetles were shrinking, but the smaller ones were not.
Around 50 million years ago the Earth warmed by three degrees Celsius (5.4°F) and as a result, animal species at the time shrunk by 14 per cent.
Another warming event around 55 million years ago - called the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) - warmed the earth by up to eight degrees Celsius (14.4°F).
In this instance, animal species of the time shrunk by up to a third.
Woolly mammoths were a victim of warming climate, shrinking habitat and increased hunting from a growing early-human population which drove them to extinction - along with many large animals
Shrinking in body size is seen from several global warming events.
With the global temperatures set to continue to rise, it is expected the average size of most animals will decrease.
As well as global warming, the world has seen a dramatic decrease in the amount of large animals.
So called 'megafauna' are large animals that go extinct. With long life-spans and relatively small population numbers, they are less able to adapt to rapid change as smaller animals that reproduce more often.
Often hunted for trophies or for food, large animals like the mastadon, mammoths and the western black rhino, which was declared extinct in 2011, have been hunted to extinction.
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