Shifting Habitats: the Great Animal Migration due to Climate Change

Mosquitoes, considered by many to be the world's deadliest animal, able to kill one million people per year through diseases, are on the move to the northern latitudes, with some of them such as ardes albopictus having expanded in range from tropical areas to temperate regions in Europe and North America over the past forty years, other mosquitoes having elevated their range by about 6.5 meters per year and away from the equator by 4.7 kilometers every year in the past century.

Coastal fishes are also on the move to the north, with 20 percent of marine fishes shifting in the North and Barents Seas, fishes such as red hake and black sea bass having moved northwards by an average of 145 miles, while fishes in tropical areas in Africa are also moving northwards.

Moths are also on the move, with species found to have moved up hill on Mount Kinabalu in Borneo and researchers saying on average that plant and animal species have been moving to higher ground at the rate of 12.2 meters per decade and closer to the poles at a faster speed of 17.6 meters per decade.

About half of four thousand species in a study moved northwards, or to a higher ground, those based on land migrating at an average speed of ten miles per decade, marine species carrying out the same process at a faster rate.

In the past, the West Nile virus was rarely seen outside East Africa and parts of the middle east, but with the rise in global temperatures, the vectors move, so now 490 cases of the West Nile virus fever happened in New York City since the turn of the century, one of the cases relating to the chief medical adviser to the U.S. President, Anthony Fauci.

In the past, species like Sardinella aurita and Sardinella Maderensis made Africa their habitat, but with the rise in global temperatures, the creatures moved northwards, while catches of fish species generally dropped in parts of West Africa, 53 percent in Nigeria, 56 percent in Cote d'Ivoire, and 60 percent in Ghana.

In the past, birds such as the little swift, Rupell's vulture, African white-backed vulture made Africa their home, but with the warming world, they found habitats in southern Europe, while storks in the 1970s wintered in Africa, but now 80 percent of the adult birds do not go further than the Iberian peninsula or Morocco.

With human-induced global warming and climate change, it becomes easy to understand why animals are moving to higher ground and northwards in a bid for survival, when conditions in their original habitats prove unsuitable for their continued existence.

Researchers have been keeping records of the arrival of birds at their breeding places for years, and the records now show a trend, that migratory birds advance their arrival around a day for every single degree Celsius rise in global temperatures, rendering them vulnerable when peak food supply has passed.

Studies also abound on the nature of insects such as aphids and mosquitoes to their breeding grounds, and the new normal indicates that aphid species for instance advance their spring migration by as much as 19 days for every one degree Celsius rise in temperature, leading to mismatches with food supply availability.

Also, studies abound on the nature of fish's arrival at their breeding grounds as a result of migration induced by climate change, and the pattern is similar to what obtains with insects and birds, early arrivals meaning fish spawns before their larvae have access to sufficient food sources, hampering their ability to survive.

With animals such as birds, mosquitoes, and fish facing challenges due to migration occasioned by human-induced climate change, it becomes easy to understand some of the reasons behind migratory birds experiencing approximately 40 percent decline in population, with migratory freshwater fish seeing an average 81 percent decline in numbers between 1970 and 2020.

We need to support the long-term survival of migratory species, and this can only be done through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the root cause of climate change, and transitioning to renewable energy, as well as nations collaborating through research and monitoring to solve a common challenge.

What To Eat

Vegan food from Borneo, Credit, Dreamstime