Scientists Map Speed of Climate Change

Shifting climate regimes have resulted in many creatures, such as pine warblers to migrate toward higher latitudes. A tearm of scientists from the California Academy of Sciences have calculated that, on average, ecosystems will need to shift about 0.42 km/yr to keep pace with global climate change. This study, which included scientists from Carnegie Institute of Science and U.C. Berkeley, and whose work will be published in "Nature," looked at the effect on individual species whose tolerence to such changes varies. The rapidity of such change is a critical determining factor. This link is to the NASA's Earth Observatory reporting of this pre-publication finding.