Effects of Global Warming On Australia - Biodiversity and Ecosystems

Biodiversity and Ecosystems

Australia has some of the world's most diverse ecosystems and natural habitats, and it may be this variety that makes them the Earth's most fragile and at-risk when exposed to climate change. The Great Barrier Reef is a prime example. Over the past 20 years it has experienced unparalleled rates of bleaching. Additional warming of 1°C is expected to cause substantial losses of species and of associated coral communities.

The CSIRO predicts that the additional results in Australia of a temperature rise of between 2 and 3 degrees celsius will be:

• 97% of the Great Barrier Reef bleached annually.
• 10–40% loss of principal habitat for Victoria and montane tropical vertebrate species.
• 92% decrease in butterfly species’ primary habitats.
• 98% reduction in Bowerbird habitat in Northern Australia.
• 80% loss of freshwater wetlands in Kakadu (30 cm sea level rise).