Land ecosystem changes under global warming

Simulated ecosystem change by 2100, depending on the degree of global mean temperature increase: 2 degrees Celsius (upper image) or five degrees Celsius (lower image) above preindustrial levels. The parameter Γ (Gamma) measures how far apart a future ecosystem under climate change would be from the present state. Blue colours (lower Γ) depict areas of moderate change, yellow to red areas (higher Γ) show major change. The maps show the median value of the Γ parameter across all climate models, meaning at least half of the models agree on major change in the yellow to red areas.

Credit: Ostberg et al., 2013

• Terrestrial ecosystems at risk of major shifts as temperatures increase (8 October 2013)

• Original image (2.1 MB, 5000.0x4979.0 px)
• Preview image (912.3 KB, 1280x1275 px, JPEG format)

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