Literature Review on the consequences of climate change on biodiversity in Australia

Running Head: LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature Review
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Author Note

1LITERATURE REVIEW
Topic – Literature Review on the consequences of climate change on biodiversity in
Australia
Introduction
Biodiversity is visible in the species and between the ecosystems. Although it is hard to
measure biodiversity on a global scale, in the recent years, the biodiversity of the planet is
declining as found from the scientific consensus (Anwar et al., 2015. It is frightening news
because the more species live in a particular area, the healthier the ecosystem is and the better the
human beings are. The biodiversity affects the medicine, food and the environment in one way
or the other. The ecosystems require a huge assortment of the plants and the animal life from the
soil microbes to the top level predators such as wolves and the bears.
The removal of one more species will negatively affect the ecosystem. On the other hand
climate change is the shift or the abnormal change in the patterns of the climate. Since global
warming is rising quickly, the climate patterns in various regions are fluctuating (González-
Orozco et al., 2016). Consequently, the biodiversity is also forced to fluctuate with the regional
climate which is harmful for many species. In Australia, climate change is clearly visible and
one can see the series of large tracts of bleached coral resulting from the extremely warn
summers on the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is an Australian symbol of
biodiversity. The purpose of this literature review is to focus on the aspects of climate change
responsible for the disruptions in the Australian biodiversity. It will explore and assess how
human beings are responsible for such threatening scenario and lastly identify the gaps in the
current research.
Biodiversity and its importance

2LITERATURE REVIEW
It is the foundation of the ecosystem to which the well-being of the human is intimately
linked. On the earth, no other feature is so dynamic, complex and varied than the levels of living
organisms which occupies the surface and the seas. The biodiversity is the most extraordinary
feature of the Earth. In every layers of biosphere, there are innumerable animals, plants and
microbes which unite the geosphere and hydrosphere along with the atmosphere in a single
environmental system (Huang et al., 2016). Biodiversity has also been defined as the variability
among the living organisms from all the sources involving the terrestrial, inter alia, aquatic and
marine ecosystems. Sometimes, biodiversity involves all types of ecosystems either managed or
unmanaged. It is often presumed to be a relevant feature of the unmanaged ecosystem only. The
nature perspectives, the wild-lands and the national parks can be taken as examples. For the
human survival, biodiversity is highly important and it has a serious role to play (Morán et al.,
2018). Taken for example, a large of plants signifies a greater amount of crops. On the other
hand, the greater species diversity secures the natural sustainability of all types of life forms.
Why the climate is changing
As per the research on this topic for an extended period, it has been found that there are
various anthropological and natural factors that contribute to the climate change. It has always
happened in the earth evident from the geological records. However, the rates are increasing day
by day and the magnitude of the climate change is of huge concern worldwide (Newbold et al.,
2015). The rates of polluting substances are increasing on the earth which is causing excessive
heat on the earth’s surface. The human activities are aggravating the emission of greenhouse
gases since the industrial revolution. It is leading to more heat retention and the heightening the
surface temperature up o greater extent. Moreover, deforestation is considered to be a major
cause of global warming and climate change.