Two things will greatly impact Florida's wildlife
communities: warmer temperatures on land and in water, and changes
in seasonal rainfall patterns. Warming and altered rainfall
patterns will in turn alter species distributions, life cycles and
species interactions (e.g., predator-prey relationships).
Weather changes also will increase dissolved carbon dioxide
concentrations, making seawater more acidic. This change will
likely cause harm to Florida's coral reefs and the ability of
marine organisms to build their shells or exoskeletons.
While some species will thrive with these climate and weather
changes, others could end up imperiled or endangered.
Impacts on terrestrial species and
ecosystems:
- Changing climate causes changes in vegetation or
habitat characteristics in terrestrial habitats and in
response
- Some species seek to move, some species adapt and
some go locally extinct
- Some species will lack appropriate corridors to
move to more suitable habitats - this could eliminate a species or
a portion of its range
- Some species will no longer have suitable habitat
within their historic range in Florida
- Protected areas may no longer be suitable for many
wildlife
species or correspond to the most important wildlife habitat
- Normal seasonal fire events may change
Impacts on Birds
Impacts on Waterfowl
Impacts on marine species and ecosystems:
- Ocean acidification
causes coral bleaching and loss
of coral habitats for coral-associated
species
- Ocean acidification will impair many shell building
organisms
- Disruptions in marine food chain causing marine
extinctions
- Loss of important coastal nursery areas/habitats (i.e., mangroves, salt
marsh)
Impacts on Recreational
Saltwater Fishing
Impacts on freshwater species and
ecosystems:
- Sex ratios of some turtles, alligators and crocodiles may
become skewed if animals cannot adapt to changing temperature
patterns
- Nest failures of American crocodiles, alligators, and other
land-nesting aquatic animals may increase as intensity and
frequency of storms, flooding, or fire events increase
- Seasonal streams and wetlands decrease due to longer, drier
periods, reducing habitat for wetland wildlife
- Loss of freshwater habitat connectivity due to longer, drier
periods
- Increased fish kill and loss of aquatic species diversity due
to declines in dissolved oxygen in streams, lakes and wetlands
- Reduced or eliminated stream flow and biological diversity of
wetland species due to reduced groundwater recharge and increase in
groundwater pumping (depleting aquifers) as humans manipulate water
resources
- Changes in aquatic invertebrates (animals without backbones)
that dwell on or in the bottom sediments of tidal rivers and
streams due to increased penetration of saltwater (e.g., clams,
crayfish and a wide variety of worms)
Impacts on invasive organisms:
- Invasive nonnative species already in Florida increase their
range within the state
- Just like endemic species, some invasive species will decrease
their range
- Invasive species time bombs - some nonnative species already
here may become highly invasive as the climate changes
- Introduction and establishment of new plant, animal, and
zoonotic diseases
- Nonnative Caribbean and tropical wildlife species become
invasive in Florida - especially in coastal areas and south
Florida
- Disturbance due to climate change will make previous uninvaded
habitats more prone to biological invasions
- Invasive species, because of global climate change may alter
historical fire regimes throughout Florida, exposing native
ecosystems not adapted to fire to more frequent and intense fire
events
- Native species in south Florida will become invasive species in
north Florida
Impacts of sea level rise:
- Migration of coastal habitat and wildlife inland
- Loss of coastal habitat in areas where barriers/human
development block the migration of coastal habitat inland
- Loss of important estuarine habitats (mangroves, salt marsh,
seagrass) associated with sea level rise (increased intrusion of
seawater into estuaries due to sea level rise)
- Human migration inland puts additional development pressure on
inland habitats
- Large areas of the Everglades may be inundated
- Increased saltwater intrusion to groundwater/aquifers
- Increased vulnerability of coastal areas to flooding from storm
waves/surge due to raised base of sea level
- Increased penetration of saltwater wedge into tidal rivers and
streams
- Decreased flow of coastal springs due to reduced hydraulic head
and decreased groundwater recharge
- Loss of maritime forest through lower recruitment due to
increased salinity and soil saturation
Impacts of phenology disruption
(Phenology is the study of periodic plant and animal life cycle
events and how these are influenced by seasonal variations in
climate.):
- Reproductive patterns of some species may become disrupted due
to changing environmental conditions, some species adapt and some
are extirpated
- Pollination of some plant species disrupted, as flowering times
of plants differ from the phenology of pollinators, some plants
face extirpation in the state or extinction
- Some species are unable to successfully breed due to
disruptions in climate patterns and are unable to adapt (many
amphibian species will likely be extirpated from all or parts of
their range)
- Some species change their phenology patterns and must face new
competitive and predator interactions
- Altered migration patterns of fish, birds and mammals
Impacts due to severity of tropical storms:
- More frequent storm surge flooding
- Increased areas of permanent inundation - inland and coastal
ecosystems in low lying areas
- Increased erosion - coastal, inland
- Changes in hydrology; greater fluctuation in water levels
Impacts due to increases in atmospheric carbon
dioxide:
- Differential growth responses by plants could alter community
structure
- Rates of primary production should increase in many native
ecosystems
- Increased ocean acidification resulting in loss of coral and
impacts to other marine life, particularly those that form shells
and those that rely on coral for habitat.
Existing issues that could be worsened by
climate change:
- Growth and development
- Energy development
- Conflicts over land protection and land use planning
- Habitat loss and fragmentation
- Access to areas for recreation (boating, hunting, fishing)
- Human-wildlife conflicts
- Water and hydrology
- Availability
- Quality
- Minimum flows and levels
- Diversions
- Management conflicts
- Temperature changes
- Pollution and sediments
- Ecosystem changes
- Invasive species, pests and disease
- Fire regime changes
- Disturbance regime changes
- Sport and commercially harvested species
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