Greenhouse effect 'push' many animals up high

Global warming is pushing many tropical animals and plants to places higher than their usual environment. This situation will accelerate the disappearance of low tropical forests.

In a rare study of the greenhouse effect of tropical areas, University of Connecticut ecologist Robert Colwell and his colleagues went to a volcano that had stopped working in Costa Rica. to collect data on 2,000 species of plants and insects in the forest on the mountainside. They found that half of the species that live at altitudes of 600 meters or more have moved to places where they have never appeared.

" Many species will not be able to return to their former heights because most of the tropical forests in the slopes are gradually disappearing by human activity ," Robert said.

In addition to human activity, the existence of low tropical forests is also threatened by another factor: the absence of alternative species. Animals and plants that cannot " crawl " up face danger, unless they can withstand higher temperatures.

In another study, animal experts at the University of California (USA) found that squirrels, mice and many mammals in Yosemite National Park, California, USA tend to move upwards in near a century ago.

Red squirrel (Photo: Custompublish)

" After comparing the results of a large-scale survey in 1918 in the Sierra Nevada mountain range and the just-gathered evidence, we found that small mammals have been moving into positions. Higher to adapt to temperature rise , "said Craig Moritz, a biology professor in the research group.

While half of small mammals in national parks change in height, the rest do not move. That means that the interaction between biotic communities has changed.

Although the elevation change of species does not disrupt the biodiversity of an area, the elevation of species in nearly a century can cause disastrous consequences in the future.

" Somewhere in the future, factors that create ecosystems may collapse because a key factor disappears so quickly, " explains James Patton, a member of the research team.