
Justine S. answered 12/04/20
Veterinary Student Assisting in a Science Major's College Journey
Hi!
While I can't give you the answer word-for-word, I can offer some helpful hints.
Climate change refers to, well, the change in climate over time. This means a change in temperature, rainfall, humidity, etc. Great examples as to why this is important can be seen in issues regarding naturally freezing locations such as Antarctica and Alaska. Here, ice is becoming slightly less prominent and is melting quicker which can affect animals like polar bears who need to live in a certain temperature to survive.
On a more local level, let's look at the effects of climate change in Florida. I currently study and work alongside sea turtles, and one of the biggest things we've recognized is that climate change is one of the primary causes of sea turtle endangerment in species. To break it down, sea turtle genders are determined by the temperature of their nests (called a clutch) while they are still in eggs. The higher the temperature (hotter), the more females there will be, the lower the temperature (cooler), the more males there will be. Because Florida's temperatures have been increasing as a result of climate change, we've been seeing WAY more female sea turtles in our lab. In fact, out of the 400 we worked with last year, only 11 or 12 of them turned out to be males which is a huge problem. This high female to male ratio decreases chances of mating which in turn affects how many sea turtles there are, which causes them to be in their current status of endangered, eventually leading them to become extinct.
Reasons as to why climate change occurs can be as simple as pollution from cars, buses, littering, cutting down forests and natural habitats, etc.
Hope this provides some insight and helps!