The now extinct Dodo
Credit: www.oum.ox.ac.uk

One in six of the Earth’s species will likely go extinct if we don’t take immediate action on climate change, warns new research.

The study, published Friday in Science, also says amphibians and reptiles face at greatest risk, and chances of extinction are the highest in New Zealand, Australia and South America.

It is the most comprehensive look yet at the effect of climate change on biodiversity, analyzing 131 existing studies on this subject.

“One in six species would be a dramatic change to our environment,” said study author Mark Urban, as rising temperatures alter weather and vegetation patterns, forcing species to migrate to cooler areas to survive.

Urban, an ecologist at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, says in his analysis that if the average global temperature rises 2 C above the pre-industrial average and holds there, then 5.2 per cent of species might eventually […]