Sea level rise driven by climate change could see more than 42% of terrestrial land vertebrates lose parts of their habitats to the ocean by the end of the century, according to new research. The global study, recently published in Science, overlaid habitat suitability maps calculated for 34,120 land vertebrates — roughly 90% of all known amphibian, reptile, bird and mammal species — with sea level rise projections associated with five Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate change scenarios, ranging from low to high emissions outlooks. “Conservation planning needs to consider not only where species occur today, but also which parts of their habitat are projected to remain above water in the future,” co-author of the study Zhong-Wen Jiang, a postdoctoral researcher at Sun Yat-sen University in China, told Mongabay in an email. The study found between 14,325 and 15,324 of the species examined would be exposed to habitat loss due to coastal inundation by the year 2100, depending on the climate scenario. Yet only 5.9% of these species are considered at risk from climate change, according to their IUCN Red List assessments. Up to 63% of birds, 52% of mammals, 36% of reptiles and 24% of amphibians will likely be affected, the study found, with reptiles, narrow-ranging species and already threatened species particularly vulnerable. Overall, reptiles are likely to experience nearly double the amount of habitat loss of birds or mammals. The finding that such a significant number of species will be affected by sea level rise highlights…This article was originally published on Mongabay
