Dr Karl: It's one thing for biologists to know that the heating of the Earth's biosphere (where all the plants and animals live) would force some species to migrate. Yep thanks global warming, yet again. But it's another thing to discover just how many species will move, and how quickly.
But a comprehensive 2017 study aimed to do just that. It looked at more than 4,000 species around the globe and found, amazingly, about half of them were migrating specifically because the climate in their homes no longer suited them.
This study found many species were rapidly moving from the equator towards the cooler North or South Poles - at an average pace of around 17 km per decade if they lived on land, or 72 km each decade if they lived in the oceans.
But, as is the case with averages, some species were moving much faster - the Atlantic cod and the European purple emperor butterfly have each shifted about 200 km northward over the previous decade.
Every species has what is known as a 'range' - that is, the geographical area where that organism lives.
But as the planet's broader climate system changes, this affects climate conditions locally, sometimes ruling out areas for a species that were once livable. In other words, climate changes can alter the range of a species.
Local climates can affect organisms in many ways. This can dictate which species lives where, and when they live there. Climates can also cause subtle changes like the timing of their activity, or when their predators (or prey) come and go.
So, when local climates change, the local species have only a few choices - change themselves via evolution, tolerate the changed climate, go extinct, or migrate.
Given the rapid rate of climate change, and the slow pace of evolution, it appears many species have little choice but to be on the move.
Usually, with global warming, a species on land will migrate towards the poles or to cooler higher elevations to get away from the heat - but sometimes they will migrate downhill to stay in a more humid climate. In the oceans, a species will usually migrate poleward to the cooler waters, but sometimes they migrate deeper to the cold water further below the surface.
In recent years, many parts of the natural world have experienced sudden and rapid upheaval as species try to figure out where to call home - and often, one change results in a kind of knock-on domino effect.
For example, on the south-east coast of Australia, the sea urchin has expanded its range enormously with rising water temperatures. The result has been a loss of large seaweed, which in turn has led to much reduced catch limits for some popular fish.
In some cases, intertwined ecological relationships that involve precise timing have come apart.
In the Arctic, snow is now melting weeks earlier, and so insects are hatching much earlier. This is a problem for a migrating shorebird called the red knot. It flies from the tropics to the Arctic in springtime to feed on insects and breed. But nowadays, the insects have already hatched and moved out before the baby red knot chicks hatch - so the chicks can't eat their regular food and their numbers are dropping.
In West Greenland, thanks to another timing mismatch, pregnant caribous can't find enough plants to eat because of shifting seasons, and so the death rate of the newborn caribou is increasing.
In Japan, bumblebees are emerging after the herb Cordyalis ambigua has flowered - which is happening earlier than before - so there are fewer seeds produced, and the herb is fading away.
Diseases and pests also migrate with the shifting climate bands.
In South Africa, diamondback moths are now attacking cauliflower, cabbages and kale in areas where they previously did not, while in Latin America various funguses and pests are attacking coffee plants in locations that had previously been disease free. Migrating diseases are also affecting lavender, olives, and wine grapes in France.
And we're not just talking plants. People also suffer from migrating diseases.
Consider malaria, which infects more than 200 million people each year. Malaria is carried by the Anopheles mosquito, which is migrating both towards the poles and up the mountains away from the heat. This larger range for the mossie will increase the number of infections. We are already seeing this happening in the higher mountain slopes of Colombia and Ethiopia - which were previously free of malaria.
While the effects of all this disruption have been largely negative, there have been a few potentially positive outcomes. For example, the Atlantic mackerel have migrated northwards, so that the catch around Iceland has increased from 1700 tonnes in 2006 to 120,000 tonnes just four years later in 2010.
In parts of the tropical Pacific, the skipjack tuna is expected to increase in numbers, which should offset the overall decrease in fish numbers, due to degraded coral reefs.
Finally, some of the effects of all this movement and change might turn out to be just different.
For example, new hybrid species are emerging, because closely related species have migrated into the same area and bred with each other. We have found hybrid species of toads, butterflies, trout, sharks and bears.
Human societies are deeply linked to the life and climate around them. Many ancient civilisations have collapsed because of changes to their local biosphere - such as the Indus Valley Civilisation of Pakistan about 3,700 years ago.
So, should we be worried about this sudden mass migration?
Well, it's got a lot of scientists worried. After all, survival is not just of or for the fittest - it also depends on still fitting in.
Migrating Species
1. Where do all plants and animals live?
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2. What was the reason for half of species’ migration in 2017?
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1. What do the Atlantic cod and the purple emperor butterfly have in common?
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2. Why is evolution not an option for threatened species?
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3. What is the domino effect?
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4. Why are new born caribou dying in Greenland ?
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5. How many people dare infected with malaria every year?
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6. In what way has Iceland benefited from global warming?
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7. What was the cause of the fall of the Indus Valley civilisation 3700 years ago?
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8. What are some reasons for human migration?
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Using the information from Dr Karl’s talk write between 300 – 500 words on Migrating Species
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