One animal is being displaced on a scale our planet has never experienced before

Climate change is exacerbating the displacement of a single animal species, on a scale our planet has never experienced before. In an interview with Bill Gates on CBS news, Gates says, if we wait too long:

Then the natural ecosystemsHow ecosystems function An ecosystem is a community of lifeforms that interact in such an optimal way that how ecosystems function best, is when all components (including humans and other animals) can persist and live alongside each other for the longest time possible. Ecosystems are fuelled by the energy created by plants (primary producers) that convert the Sun's heat energy More will have failed. The instability, you know, the migration. You know, those things will– will get really, really bad well before the end of the century.

Gates is referring to the mass migration of people, of climate refugees. This is a trait largely reserved for human animals.

In fully functioning ecosystems, animals don’t migrate because they are desperate to find food, they migrate because they are moving to where it’s expected. They are behind the process that enhances vegetation diversity, fertilises soil, stabilises climate and amplifies nutrientsEnergy and nutrients are the same thing. Plants capture energy from the Sun and store it in chemicals, via the process of photosynthesis. The excess greenery and waste that plants create, contain chemicals that animals can eat, in order to build their own bodies and reproduce. When a chemical is used this way, we call it a nutrient. As we More. There are times when natural climate cycles will have caused animals to move further and there have been periods of mass mortality of animals as a consequence, but these are the exception, not the rule (at least not in time-scales of a few million years).

The transfer(of nutrients) the thing that sets animals apart from plants, is that they can move. Some of the biggest migrations on Earth every day, are the movement of insects like caterpillars, from the stem of a plant to a leaf and back, before turning into butterflies and transferring the energy elsewhere. Large-scale migration of grazing animals and migratory songbirds moves More of nutrients by wildlife is the very root cause for the evolution of animal migration–and indeed, the key to how animals survive on Earth for millions of years – it is tied to their own behaviour and the positive impact they have on the planet. They know where to find food, because that’s where they left it!

It’s not just about long-distance migrants though. The pattern of movement of everything, from the daily perambulations of caterpillars onto the leaves of plants, to the prevalence of tropical diseases, are all changing due to the breakdown in natural systems that support ecosystem stability.

But sixty percent of all mammal, bird, fish and reptilian lifeforms have been exterminated in the last 50 years. The capacity of animals to transport nutrients from biodiversityWhat is the definition of biodiversity? When we ask, what is the definition of biodiversity? It depends on what we want to do with it. The term is widely and commonly misused, leading to significant misinterpretation of the importance of how animals function on Earth and why they matter a great deal, to human survival. Here I will try to More hotspots and spread them around the world has already declined by 92% on land and 96% in the oceans [1]. It’s hardly any wonder human beings are finding it harder and harder to find food.

It should, in theory, be obvious to Gates that natural systems have already failed because the mass migration of animals, the transfer of nutrients and the creation of fertile soils and rich fisheries, have rapidly disappeared in recent years. However, it’s not obvious, because this part of Earth’s history is not widely acknowledged. Animals are still largely treated as a nicety rather than the mechanism for human life support, even among conservationWhy is animal conservation important? Animal conservation is important, because animals are the only mechanism to create biodiversity, which is the mechanism that creates a habitable planet for humans. Without animals, the energy from today’s plants (algae, trees, flowers etc) will eventually reach the atmosphere and ocean, much of it as carbon. The quantity of this plant-based waste is so More biologists.

While climate change is certainly a consequence of burning fossil fuels, a worse situation awaits us, after we stop.

The processes that stabilise the climate, provide adequate drinking water and protect our food security are created by animals. Their movement across the planet, at all scales, is what makes them remarkable–it’s the trait that separates us from plants and it is their animal impactWhat is Animal Impact? Without wildlife, Earth would not be habitable for humans, because it's animals that stabilise ecosystems. It’s a fundamental law of nature that animals (and humans) exist because we are the most likely lifeforms to minimise environmental chaos. Animal impact, therefore, is a measure of how much all wildlife is collectively responsible for creating a habitable Earth. The More that we have to protect, if we’re to have a future of our own, on planet Earth. We have to learn to share the space with animals, as only they can rebuild a habitable planet.

We are beginning to see the breakdown of patterns of animal migration as a consequence of a rapidly warming ocean and atmosphere. Tuna are moving into new areas, shearwaters are altering their route to return to breeding grounds. But mostly, mass and forced migration involves human beings, where you’re seeing the symptom of famine and thirst (both of which a primers for war) caused by the breakdown of natural systems.

Does it make you wonder why we’re so affected? As animals get bigger and more sophisticated (and numerous), their effect on the surrounding environment increases. Larger species don’t last as long because their footprints on Earth, can be quite literally, bigger.

What if the mass migration of humans is a sign that our time is already up? If anything, the mass movement of people should have Gates concerned at the enormous destruction of the ecosystem through mass-extinction of animals. After all, we are animals and maybe this is a case of last in, first out? After all, humans didn’t appear until about 300,000 years ago. It was only long after wildlife had set up the right conditions of stability, that we had any chance of rising as a species on Earth.

1. Doughty, C., et al., Global nutrientA substance that contains the raw materials for life. At a chemical level, these are contained inside compounds that are absorbed into the body and essential energy-containing molecules are extracted, so that energy can be transformed into other chemical processes that use the energy for living. More transport in a world of giants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2015. 113.