Life on planet Earth faces a mounting risk of extinction, posed by the threat of global warming. The list of reasons behind global warming is virtually endless. Man has not only used nature’s bounties for his own benefits but has treaded into the danger zone by exploiting them, thereby harming the physical environment and bringing about a vast climatic change. As global citizens, it should be our first priority to minimize the effects of environmental pollutants and thereby save our planet from the effects of global warming.

Scientists have discovered that the phenomenon of global warming began way back in 1800. Human enterprises have emerged as the root cause of global warming. These have increased the emission of greenhouse gases, which lock up the heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. These gases have led to the depletion of the ozone layer, as a result of which all species are now exposed to the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun

Global warming has had an impact on different ecosystems. Global warming has resulted in the melting away of glaciers. As a consequence the water level has risen considerably resulting in frequent floods, eroding of riverbanks and mingling of freshwater and seawater sources thus leading to the extinction of several marine species.

The shift in climatic conditions has an adverse effect on sea levels, availability of food, amount of rainfall, the composition of an ecosystem and temperature levels. In fact, early instances of life extinction have been attributed to climate change. Global warming affects biodiversity in different ways. These include:
 

• Changes in the temperature levels
   
• The development of certain habitats and the waning away of others is a natural fallout of global warming. There are species, which migrate from one place to another to change their habitat.
   
• Frequent occurrence of diseases
   
• Disruption in the natural ecological relationships between different species
   
• Altered precipitation levels
   
• Change of food availability belts.
   

In the past, many species have managed to thwart the risk of extinction by migrating to greener pastures. But given the current scenario, it is extremely difficult to tackle the consequences of global warming, since human beings have made it all the more difficult by splitting up, transforming and at times obliterating the existing habitats and thereby leaving no scope for migration.

As far as different species are concerned, the effect of global warming is clearly visible with some of them shifting their habitats. Moreover, it is also becoming all the more difficult to preserve huge land tracts, which is affecting the chances of preserving biodiversity of a particular region.

Researchers on bio diversity believe that, it would become all the more difficult to execute conservation methods due to global warming. Climatologists have directed all their energies to find out ways to minimize global warming. But given the current environmental scenario, it is difficult to bring about a drastic change. It has been observed that even if greenhouse emissions were totally stopped, the temperature would continue to rise after 2100 as a result of the greenhouse gases that are already present in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Ecosystems have been worst hit as a result of global warming. Most of the species fail to adapt to the changing surroundings and succumb to effects of global warming. It is believed that if the situation is not taken stock of immediately, then around 2050 species will disappear from the surface of the Earth as a result of global warming.