heat shrink?

In the past I wrote about how global warming causes the reduction of species in nature and the extinction of large species, now there is a reinforcement of the phenomenon

In the past I wrote about how global warming causes the reduction of species in nature and the extinction of large species, now there is a reinforcement of the phenomenon. According to a study published in Nature Climate Change, many of the research subjects are shrinking due to global warming caused by the increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. When the carbon dioxide dissolves in the ocean waters, it causes the acidity to increase, which causes groups of animals to shrink. According to the research, some of the "shrinking" groups are important and provide a basis for existence and essential food.

Tiny creatures as well as top predators are losing their size due to climate change. 45% of the study subjects shrunk over a few generations due to global warming, the effect of the rapid rise in temperatures and changes in the pattern of rainfall affecting body size, an effect that has unpredictable but certainly negative consequences.

Previous studies have shown that climate change has led to sharp changes in habitats and reproductive cycles, but this is the first time that the effect of the changes on the size of animals and plants has been studied. The researchers from the University of Singapore examined scientific literature on climate change in the distant (geological) past and current studies and surveys as well as evidence based on fossils were unequivocal: during geological periods when temperatures rose both sea and land creatures became... small!

About 55 million years ago, during a period known as "maximum warming in the Palaeocene-Eocene" PETM -Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. There was a warming similar to the present warming with a "small" difference in the rate of changes. Beetles, bees, spiders, wasps, ants and many other insects have shrunk by 50% - 75% over a period of several thousand years. Mammals such as squirrels and tree rats lost about 40% of their size. But the current rate of warming is much faster than then. According to the study, warming is already causing the contraction of many species.

Of the 85 sites tested, 45% of the species were not affected but of the remaining (65%) four out of five individuals decreased while the remaining increased. Some of the species that shrank came as a surprise as plants are supposed to grow when the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases, but the development of many of the plants was halted by the changes in temperature, humidity and food availability. Despite the increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide, plants that absorb carbon dioxide do not grow anymore, this is because of a change in the distribution of rainfall - a change that in wide areas causes dryness, without water plants do not grow.

For "cold-blooded" creatures such as insects, reptiles and amphibians, the impact of climate change is direct and immediate. Warmer weather causes faster "maturation", so a creature reaches maturity when it is small. Experiments show that an increase of one degree translates into a 10% increase in metabolism, meaning the creature consumes more energy (without the ability to eat more) and the result is a decrease in size. For example: toads, turtles and sea lizards have shrunk in two decades.

Over the years, researchers have attributed the "shrinkage of fish" to overfishing (wild), but experiments and research have shown that the composition of the water in rivers, lakes and lakes has an equally important role. Some of the more alarming changes are happening at the bottom of the food chain, mainly in the oceans. Tiny phytoplankton plants and creatures whose skeletons are made of calcium lose their size due to an increase in acidity and the loss of the ability of warm water to dissolve oxygen and nutrients.

If all creatures shrank at the same rate and to the same extent there would be no problem, since small plants would feed small fish which would feed small sharks and so on, but since this is not the case, some creatures shrink and others remain at their original size, an imbalance is created that could cause the disappearance of species.

Sparrows, seagulls and hawks, species of wild sheep, moose and polar bears all show a decrease in size, despite the well-known and accepted fact that the larger a creature is, the more suitable it is for extreme temperatures, (the ratio between the volume and the surface area is smaller as the creature grows), but in order to support A large body requires more food, when the creatures at the bottom of the food chain shrink, there is less food.

Carbon pollution causes an increase of one degree in the average (global) temperature, continued emission of pollutants will cause an increase of four to five degrees by the end of this century, according to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Since the rate of warming is faster than anything the environment could adapt to, many creatures are not "enough" to react or adapt, especially creatures with long life cycles, those that live for many years. The researchers point out that they have not located all the reasons for the process or why some creatures grow, others are small and others are not affected, but even without understanding the process it is clear that its results are negative even if they cannot be accurately measured.

It is clear that the contraction of creatures (animals and plants) will have a direct effect on the supply of food and other resources in the natural environment in general, as well as in the human environment. The most prominent of the creatures that continues to grow, its population grows and the individuals in the population "expand" is the human creature. When creatures shrink, environmental resources are depleted and at the same time there is an increase not only in the number of people but also in their size, when there is less food but the people eat more and grow (get fat), there is obviously a problem.

Perhaps this is also what the "poet" meant when he wrote "Wishman (Yeshuron) and kicked", in a paraphrase it can be said that: humanity that kicks in its natural environment fattens, literally.

to the notice of the researchers