Impact of Global Warming on NC’s Wildlife & Habitats Overview Global warming is “the most dangerous threat to the future of wildlife,” according the National Wildlife Federation website. This visual matching activity was designed to engage students in learning about how a variety of NC species and habitats from the mountains to the coast are being impacted by global warming and its secondary effects (drought, fire, etc.). This activity was designed to complement the article entitled “Wildlife & Global Warming” published in the February 2006 issue of Wildlife in North Carolina. NOTE TO TEACHER: impact trends identified in the matching activity are based on scientific research reviewed in the documents listed in the bibliography section at the end of this lesson. Courses Biology North Carolina Standard Course of Study for Biology

• 4.03 Assess, describe, and explain adaptations affecting survival and reproductive success. • 5.01 Investigate and analyze the interrelationships among organisms, populations, communities, and ecosystems. • 5.03 Assess human population and its impact on local ecosystems and global environments.

Essential Questions

• How are NC plants and animals responding to global warming? To its secondary effects (drought, fire)? • How will a warmer environment alter ecological relationships within NC’s ecosystems? • Which adaptations allow organisms to increase/shift their ecological range in response to global warming? • In addition to global warming, what other human-influenced factors are influencing NC’s wildlife and their

habitats in the 21st century? • How will NC’s economy be impacted by global warming impacts on wildlife and their habitats?

Materials • Cards for matching activity, provided • Copies of “Wildlife & Global Warming” article, provided or available as a pdf at http://www.wildlife.state.nc.us/

Duration 15-20 minutes Procedure 1. Inform students that they are going to be conducting an activity to help them learn about the impacts of global warming

on NC’s wildlife and their habitats. 2. Give each participant a card which either has a photograph of a particular plant or animal species or describes how

global warming is impacting the particular group of organisms to which that species belongs. Ask students to stand up and hold their card so that others can clearly see it.

3. Invite students to move around the room and search for the card that best matches theirs– every illustration of a particular species will have an accompanying description of the likely impact of global warming on the particular group of organisms to which that species belongs.

4. Invite student pairs to reflect on their assigned organism and to: • Identify any adaptations (structural or behavioral) that will enable this organism to survive or that will make it

difficult to survive a warmer environment and its secondary effects (fire, drought, etc.). • Identify the role(s) of this organism in its ecosystem (e.g., pollinator, predator, etc.) • How might competition and predator-prey interactions be altered in response to changes in the population of

this organism? • Describe the impact that global warming will have on any economic industry tied to this species.

Created by UNC-Chapel Hill’s Environmental Resource Program http://www.ie.unc.edu/erp/index.cfm

1

Created by UNC-Chapel Hill’s Environmental Resource Program http://www.ie.unc.edu/erp/index.cfm

2

5. Extensions:

Ask students to summarize which adaptations allow organisms to increase/shift their ecological range in response to global warming.

Invite students to consider other challenges their species is confronting in the 21st century (e.g. habitat fragmentation, invasive species, pollution, etc.)?

Have student pairs place their matching cards onto a map of NC projected on the board to emphasize that species all across the state will be impacted by global warming.

Culminating Activities

• Invite students to read “Wildlife & Global Warming” and discuss it as a class. • Invite students to research and discuss human actions that can be taken to minimize the effects of climate change

on their particular species/type of organism. • Direct students to select an organism that lives in NC and investigate further how global warming will impact that

species/type of organism. • Invite someone who works directly with wildlife or a particular ecosystem to visit the class and discuss what

changes they have already observed and/or predict to observe in the future as a result of global warming. Alternatively, students could conduct phone interviews and summarize their findings orally or in writing.

Differentiation Students with Special Needs

• Give students additional time to complete the matching activity.

AIG • Give each student a species and have them investigate and present on how global warming will impact that species

rather than having them match the cards. Bibliography for Matching Activity Inkley, D. B. et al. Global Climate Change and Wildlife in North America. Wildlife Society Technical Review 04-2. The Wildlife Society, Bethesda, MD, USA http://www.nwf.org/news/story.cfm?pageId=D7773037-65BF-09FE-B613D77CBBEAE686 IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change). 2007. Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, M.L. Parry, O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden and C.E. Hanson, Eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. http://www.ipcc-wg2.org/index.html Munger, A. and M. Shore. 2005. Understanding Global Warming for North Carolina. Environmental Defense. Raleigh, NC, USA. www.environmentaldefense.org/documents/3053_NCClimateReport.pdf Parmesan, C. and H. Galbraith. 2004. Observed Impacts of Global Climate Change in the US. Prepared for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. Arlington, VA, USA. http://www.pewclimate.org/global-warming-in-depth/all_reports/observedimpacts/ Additional Classroom Resources (Fact Sheets, Curricula, Background Information) EPA Climate Change and North Carolina www.duke.edu/web/ESC/documents/Global%20Warming%20Impact%20on%20NC.pdf Global Warming and North Carolina Fact Sheet www.nwf.org/globalwarming/pdfs/NorthCarolina.pdf

Created by UNC-Chapel Hill’s Environmental Resource Program http://www.ie.unc.edu/erp/index.cfm

3

National Wildlife Federation – Global warming http://www.nwf.org/globalwarming/Video http://www.nwf.org/wildlifeandglobalwarming/globalwarmingandwildlife.cfm World Wildlife Federation – Climate Change http://www.worldwildlife.org/climate/ The Bird Watchers Guide to Global Warming www.abcbirds.org/climatechange/birdwatchersguide.pdf US Arbor Day Animation of Hardiness zones 1990-2006 http://www.arborday.org/media/mapchanges.cfm Duke Forest FACE facility to study how forests respond to increased carbon dioxide levels http://face.env.duke.edu/main.cfm

Global warming impact:Expanded range of insect-borne

diseases

The mosquitocan carry tropical diseases such as Malaria and the West Nile Virus.

Global warming impact:Loss of cold water ecosystems

Brook trout live in cool, clear waters such as those found in the streams and creeks of the Appalachian Mountains.

Global warming impact:Increase in pollen production

Ragweed is a plant whose pollen triggers allergies for many people.

Global warming impact:Increase in populations of animals living at their northern range limit

The American Alligator recently colonized Merchants Mill Pond in Gates Co, NC and has been seen as far north as Chesapeake, VA.Manuel, John. Wildlife and Global Warming. Wildlife in North Carolina, February 2006.

Global warming impact:

Increase in the area and

productivity of forests

Longleaf Pine Forests are an important source of timber.

Global warming impact:Earlier onset of spring

Warm temperatures trigger flowering and emergence of leaves in the spring.

Global warming impact:Increase in tropical fish species

The Lionfish is a non-native, tropical marine fish species that is commonly found in the warm waters of the western Pacific. Lionfish have been reported off the NC coast since 2002. Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commissionhttp://www.asmfc.org/

Global warming impact:Earlier arrival of neotropicalmigratory birds in the spring

In the spring, neotropicalmigratory birds such as the Baltimore Oriole head north to breed and raise their young in the United States and Canada, returning to a warmer climate in the tropics in the fall.

Global warming impact:Decline in migratory birds

which will winter further north

Migratory Birdsfly south in the winter to more suitable habitats for finding food and surviving winter months.

Global warming impact:Loss or displacement of coastal egg-laying habitats as a result of

sea level rise

The Loggerheadsea turtle returns to the same beach from which it hatched to lay its eggs.

Global warming impact:Changes in the abundance and

distribution of North Atlantic fish important to fisheries

The Black Sea Bassis a fish caught commercially off the coast of NC.

Global warming impact:Decline in high elevation plant

communities

Frasier Fir treesdominate higher elevations in NC.

Global warming impact:Decline in freshwater swamp habitats and trees due to rising sea level and

exposure to salt water

The bald cypress is a predominant tree species in freshwater swamps

Global warming impact:Increase in habitats for saltwater

fish, crabs and shrimp due to enlarging estuaries

Blue crabs require both estuaries and the open ocean to complete their life cycle.

wildlife & GLOBAL WARMING

JUST NORTH OF MANNS HARBOR ON NORTH CAROLINA’S

CROATAN SOUND, BEN POULTER WADES AMONG THE

SKELETAL REMAINS OF A ONCE-FLOURISHING POCOSIN

FOREST. WILDFIRE KILLED THE TREES A FEW YEARS BACK,

BUT WHAT CONCERNS THE DUKE UNIVERSITY RESEARCHER

IS THE FACT THAT NO TREE SEEDLINGS ARE COMING UP.

Instead, a thick mat of chest-high sawgrass hasinvaded the forest. Sawgrass thrives in regularly floodedground and is more tolerant of salt than such species aspond pine and cedar. The forest, it seems, is in retreat.Aerial photographs dating to the 1930s confirm thattrend, at Croatan Sound and elsewhere along the coast.Though fire, disease and other factors may contributeto the retreat, Poulter believes that the chief driver issea level rise, a byproduct of global warming.

Global climate is alwayschanging, and sea levelschange as well. Nearly 2million years ago, at thedawn of the PleistoceneEpoch, sea levels began tofall dramatically as growingglaciers locked up increas-ing amounts of the planet’swater. At its lowest level during the Pleistocene, the NorthCarolina coastline was 20 to 50 miles east of today’sbeaches. Sea levels rose during the interglacial periods,with the ocean covering the entire Coastal Plain as farwest as modern-day Roanoke Rapids and Lillington.

Today, glaciers are melting, and sea levels are risingagain as the warmer ocean water expands. This time the increase in temperature is relatively sudden and isbelieved by many scientists to be driven by the release ofgreenhouse gases into the atmosphere— in direct relationto the industrial-age increase in combustion of fossil fuels.

written and photographed by john manuel

NORTH CAROLINA HAS STARTED

PLANNING FOR A SHIFT IN CLIMATE.

WHAT COULD GLOBAL WARMING

MEAN FOR THE STATE’S WILDLIFE?

The drowned forest visible from theU.S. 64 bridge across the AlligatorRiver is evidence of a rise in sea level.

20 february 2006 winc

water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4)

g r e e n h o u s e g a s e s

THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT

1) Sunlight warms Earth’s surface. 2) Earth’s surface radiates heat to the atmosphere. Some heat goesinto space. Greenhouse gases absorb some heat and reradiate it toward Earth, making it warm enoughfor life to exist. 3) Higher concentrations of greenhouse gases send more heat back to Earth’s surface.“The current concentration of carbon dioxide is higher than at any time during the past 420,000years, and the increase can be directly linked to human activities.”

–National Wildlife Federation, “The Waterfowler’s Guide to Global Warming”

its range has expanded with the spread ofhydrilla, which provides cover.”

Alligators have recently colonizedMerchants Millpond in Gates County andhave been seen as far north as Chesapeake, Va.“I’ve been at Merchants Millpond for 25 yearsand had heard of only one or two alligatorsever being found north of Albemarle Sound,”said Floyd Williams, head ranger at MerchantsMillpond State Park. “They’ve been here nowfor nine years.”

Increased ocean temperatures could beluring a whole host of tropical fish to reefsalong the North Carolina coast. The NationalMarine Fisheries Service has been countingand tagging fish in Onslow Bay since 1975.In the last decade, biologists recorded 29new species of tropical fish on the reef andincreased numbers of previously observedtropical fish. Meanwhile, no new temperatefish have been found, and some, such as theblack sea bass, are markedly less abundant.

Species at their southern limit that couldsuffer from hotter and drier summersinclude a number of salamanders: Weller ’ssalamander, Wehrle’s salamander and thered-cheeked salamander. “If you crank upthe temperature a few degrees, you couldlose those species,” Braswell said. “Some ofthese are already receiving pressure due toforest change.”

Trout found in our mountain streamswould also be harmed by hotter and driersummers. “Anything that leads to widespread

EVERYDAY ACTIONS CAN HELP CUT

EMISSIONS THAT INCREASE GREENHOUSE

GAS CONCENTRATIONS

Reduce, reuse, recycle. www.epa.gov

Keep tires inflated and engines tuned.www.fueleconomy.gov

Make your house and place of business moreenergy efficient. www.energystar.gov

Go car-free now and then. www.ncdot.org

Buy “green power”from your utility company.www.ncgp.org

Plant and care for native trees.www.ncbg.unc.edu

1

3

Scientists agree that the planet is warm-ing. Arctic ice is melting at an increasingrate, and NASA satellites indicate sea levelis rising about 2 to 3 millimeters per year.Using a combination of ice cores, lake sedi-ment cores and tree rings, scientists havegathered information on Earth’s climate backto A.D. 1000. Their findings show that tem-peratures started a dramatic rise in the late1800s. The decade of the 1990s was thewarmest in the past millennium for thenorthern hemisphere.

How will North Carolina’s climate changein the next century, and how will wildlifeadapt to the change? The National Center forAtmospheric Research predicts thatmean temperatures in the south-eastern United States will increase3 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100.The center ’s models predict sub-stantial increases (25 to 35 percent)in precipitation in the spring andsubstantial decreases (20 to 30percent) in the summer. Changes infall and winter precipitation will be rela-tively small. Across the Coastal Plain, Pied-mont and Mountain regions, wildlife wouldencounter higher temperatures and markedlydrier summers.

PLANTSPeter White, director of the N.C. BotanicalGarden, points out that North Carolina isthe northern limit for trees such as the cab-bage palm and the southern limit for treessuch as the red spruce. “I’ve heard experts

say the climate of North Carolina would belike that of southern Georgia,” White says.“If so, we might see a significant turnoverin tree species.”

The one place to look for dramaticimpacts would be mountain forests, Whitesays. “Over the millennia, as climate haswarmed and cooled, these forests havemigrated up and down the sides of our moun-tains. Now they are backed up to the highestelevations. If subjected to increasing tem-peratures over a long period, they may beshoved off the mountains altogether.”

White believes that localized extinctionhas happened in the past. While researching

rare plants in the high mountains, Whitenoticed that a number of plant species, suchas small mountain bittercress and mountainavens, were absent in the lower-elevationmountains, even though the species are cer-tainly capable of surviving there under pres-ent climate conditions. White believes suchplants lived on these lower mountains at onetime but were unable to retreat high enoughto escape the heat during past warmingtrends and became locally extinct. Now,White says, the high mountain ecosystems

are threatened by rapid climate change. Cooland moist climates that occur on north-facingslopes in the Piedmont might also become athing of the past.

The U. S. Forest Service has predicted thepotential for redistribution due to climatechange of 80 tree species. Sugar maple, whichnow grows in our Piedmont and Mountains,could be absent south of New York state,except in a small region of West Virginia.Longleaf pine, on the other hand, couldexpand from the southern Coastal Plain all the way to the foothills.

ANIMALSAs with plants, North Carolina representsthe northern range limit of some animalspecies and the southern range limit ofothers. Species from the south would logi-cally be expected to extend their range north-ward, and those that are at their southernlimit would retreat, as the climate warms.

“Historically, species have moved north andsouth, and up and down in eleva-tion —the so-called ice age yo-yoeffect,” says Jesse Perry, director ofpublic programs with the N.C.Museum of Natural Sciences. “Theproblem now is that the landscape ismore fragmented, and that can inter-fere with migration. Plants and ani-mals may hit a wall and go extinct.”

Species at their northern limit include thechicken turtle, the American alligator, the dia-mondback rattlesnake and a variety of frogs.Museum biologist Alvin Braswell says at leastone frog species is already spreading northand westward in North Carolina, thoughfactors other than climate may be involved.

“We saw our first green treefrogs inWake County in the 1980s,” Braswell said.“[This species] has now been documentedin Durham and Orange counties. Warmertemperatures may play a role, but I suspect

“I’ve heard experts say the climate of NorthCarolina would be like that of southernGeorgia. If so, we might see a significant

turnover in tree species.”

Left: Ben Poulter explains how spartinagrass (foreground) and sawgrass (back-ground) are overtaking a pocosin forestas sea level rises. The marsh grassesfavor wet ground and are more salt-tolerant than pond pines or cedar trees.Far right: Jeff DeBlieu, director of TheNature Conservancy's Nags Head WoodsPreserve, joins Poulter on a survey ofplaces where changes in plant succes-sion may be a sign of climate change.

22 february 2006 winc

2

february 2006 winc 23

mackerel, false albacore and cobia— butadding that region to the oceanic habitatwould be insignificant compared to the lossof estuarine habitat.”

Can we minimize the negative effects ofclimate change on North Carolina wildlife?The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and TheNature Conservancy are teaming up on astudy of how to manage their refuges in theAlbemarle-Pamlico region as sea levels rise.The peninsula is crisscrossed by canals con-nected to the sounds, constructed to drain theland for timber and agricultural production.Dennis Stewart, manager of the AlligatorRiver National Wildlife Refuge, is concernedthat these canals may allow saltwater to per-meate the peninsula, which would breakdown the peat soils and kill trees.

“We can’t stop sea level rise, and wecan’t fill in the canals, but we do have watercontrol structures that could be closed toprevent saltwater intrusion,” Stewart said.“Our goal is to provide the highest-qualityhabitat for the widest range of species,

especially federal trust species like the red-cockaded woodpecker.”

Some people would like to see policiesthat allow barrier islands and marshes tomigrate landward as sea level rises. NorthCarolina law currently prohibits hardeningof beachfront property, but not soundfrontproperty. “It’s essential to leave space forshorelines to adjust to sea changes, and topromote stabilization methods that don’testablish rigid, unmovable shorelines bar-riers,” said Todd Miller, executive directorof the N.C. Coastal Federation.

In August 2005, North Carolina joinednearly 40 other states in taking the initiativeon global warming with passage of the N.C.Global Warming Act. The legislation estab-lished a 34-member commission whose chargeis to consider potential impacts on the statefrom rising temperatures and evaluate recom-mendations on state goals for pollution reduc-tion. The commission will also study how thestate can prepare its economy to capitalize onemerging markets related to climate change.

Changes in global climate have beendriven by forces that humans cannot hope toalter in the short term. But a growing numberof organizations have joined state and localgovernments in seeking long-term solutions.

The same holds true for individuals. Thechoices we make, from the energy efficiencyof our homes to the vehicles we drive, have adirect impact on the amounts of greenhousegases released into the atmosphere. For thepast century, carbon dioxide emissions,global temperatures and sea level have allbeen rising. Collective action now and inthe future may be the only way to stem the rising tide.

John Manuel is author of “The Natural TravelerAlong North Carolina’s Coast.”

Scientists have produced several models ofclimate change. Unless otherwise stated, theauthor has used predictions developed by theUnited Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel ofClimate Change for this article.

A WARMER, DRIER PLACE FOR WILDLIFE

Biologists and wildlife managers anticipate changesfor North Carolina’s wildlife as the climate warms in this century.

ALLIGATOR: increase in populationsof southern species, decline in salt-marsh habitat

MARINE FISH: increase in tropical fishspecies, decrease in populations of NorthAtlantic fish species

LONGLEAF PINE: increase in timberproduction, longleaf pine forests

N O R T H C A R O L I N A

WATERFOWL: decline inmigratory waterfowl, whichwill winter farther north

NEOTROPICAL BIRDS:change in migration patterns

february 2006 winc 25

warming of streams would have a negativeimpact on the distribution of trout,” saidMallory Martin, fisheries biologist for theN.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.Martin says extreme water temperatures(above 80 degrees Fahrenheit) are deadlyto trout. Heat and drought in combinationcould kill fish throughout an entire water-shed, as high-elevation streams dry up andlower-elevation streams become too warm.

Warmer temperatures could also lead tofewer ducks along North Carolina’s coast.Waterfowl could stop farther north in winterto find ice-free water and suitable food. TheNational Wildlife Federation has madeglobal warming a top priority, citing amongother changes the northward shift that theU.S. Forest Service projects for the breedingrange of mallard and blue-winged teal inthe Atlantic Flyway. State officials with N.C.Ducks Unlimited have expressed concernabout the effects of global warming.

OUTER BANKS WILDLIFEThe fate of the more than 400 bird, mammaland reptile species that frequent the OuterBanks is harder to predict. The banks arebasically sand ridges that have been movingwestward through the process of storm over-wash. Artificial dunes and fences that protectshore roads and buildings actually narrowthe islands as erosion eats away at both shore-lines. The disappearing act could threatenhabitat for species such as the piping plover,which nests in sand flats created by overwash,and the loggerhead turtle, which can’t scalethe steep oceanfront scarps to lay its eggs.

The same process appliesto the marshes. Whereshorelines are protectedand gradients are shallow,marshes can migrate land-ward as sea levels rise.Sediment and plant mate-rials build up on the backside of a marsh at the sametime that wave actionerodes the outer edge. Butwhere gradients are steep,or where structures such assea walls, buildings androads prevent their move-ment, marshes will simplydisappear when flooded byrising sea level.

Stan Riggs of East Carolina University hasseen dramatic erosion— as much as 23 feetper year— on the shores of the Pamlico andAlbemarle sounds and on the Outer Banksnorth of Cape Hatteras. “If the [foremostclimate models] turn out to be true, NorthCarolina is in for serious consequences,”Riggs says. “Within the next century, theOuter Banks could be reduced to a few scat-tered islands, and there would be major landlosses in Currituck, Camden, Dare, Hyde,Tyrrell and Pamlico counties.”

Today, Pamlico Sound’s shallow, low-salinity waters and marshy edge provide ahigh-quality nursery habitat for finfishand shellfish. If salt water washes over the Outer Banks, Pamlico Sound wouldbecome a bay, with the corresponding lossin nursery habitat.

“If we lose Pamlico Sound, it wouldreduce our productivity tremendously,”said Louis Daniel of the N.C. Division ofMarine Fisheries. “We would see morecoastal migratory pelagic fish —king

C ould forests benefit from one aspect

of global warming, namely increased

carbon dioxide? Could forests and soils help

reduce carbon dioxide buildup in the atmos-

phere by storing carbon? William Schlesinger,

dean of the Nicholas School of the Environ-

ment at Duke University, says the answer to

both questions is a qualified yes.

An experiment using Free-Air CO2 Enrich-

ment (FACE) technology has been in progress

at Duke Forest for a decade. Towers fumigate

plots of loblolly pines with carbon dioxide

at concentrations designed to approximate

Earth’s atmosphere in the year 2050. The

study has shown that increased carbon diox-

ide enhances the growth of trees, though it

appears that the availability of nitrogen in

the soil may reduce production over time.

In the first year, the fumigated trees pro-

duced 25 percent more wood than trees

in control plots, though the margin has

declined to around 16 percent in later years.

More carbon was retained in soils and woody

materials in the experimental plots than in

control plots. But compared with the amount

of carbon now entering the atmosphere, the

effect is minimal. Schlesinger says forests

and soils shouldn’t be counted on to solve

the global warming problem.

THE FOREST FACTOR

BROOK TROUT: decline in heat-sensitive fish such as trout

MOSQUITO: increase in tropicalbugs and mosquito-borne diseases

24 february 2006 winc

CHRIS HILDRETH/ DUKE PHOTOGRAPHY

“HISTORICALLY, SPECIES HAVE MOVED NORTH AND SOUTH, AND UP ANDDOWN IN ELEVATION—THE SO-CALLED ICE AGE YO-YO EFFECT.”

–Jesse Perry, N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences

SPRUCE/FIR COMMUNITY:decline in high-elevationplant communities