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Message: <blockquote data-quote="antshrike69" data-source="post: 1598591" data-attributes="member: 12592">Being a little less UK-centric, the impact on biodiversity elsewhere could be catastrophic. Even small changes in mean temperature could have a major impact on vegetation zones - perhaps all very well on big land masses or areas with low endemism (eg the UK!) but much more serious for small islands elsewhere such as in the Pacific. These areas often have large numbers of endemic taxa. Species with nowhere else to go if habitats shift in elevation, or sea levels rise significantly.Historically, large tracts of intact habitat ensured that species could move up and down elevational and geographic gradients as the climate gradually warmed and cooled. Now, most/all habitats are massively reduced in area and restricted artificially by human intervention. This means birds and other species have nowhere to go if climatic changes alter their current habitat.It is still way too early to know how serious the fall-out is going to be. Looking at the last 50 years in isolation is not going to tell us what things are going to be like in another 50 let alone 200, 300 years time.</blockquote>