Effects of Climate Change on Terrestrial Ecosystems in India

Climate change is impacting terrestrial ecosystems in India due to which the habitants are facing several problems. Climate change has many adverse impacts on agriculture, forest and biodiversity, health, water resources, coastal management, and temperature. The decline in the productivity of agriculture is the main impact of climate change in India because a majority of the population depends on agriculture either directly or indirectly.

Extreme Weather Events

Many extreme weather conditions lead to devastating effects on the terrestrial ecosystems in India. Part of this has happened because of human activities and the other part has happened due to the natural calamities. There are several factors and reasons behind a natural calamity, for example, outer space activities, human construction activities, etc. Humans traveling in vehicles that make use of such fuels that cause pollution in the atmosphere is one of the several reasons behind these extreme weather events.

Water Resources

Many human-induced climate changes have already intensified the water extremes in India. In history, many such events of floods and landslides due to heavy rains have occurred. The recent floods in parts of northern India are an example of how these extreme weather events can be more dangerous in hilly areas than in plains.

Biodiversity

As there is a lot of biodiversity in the terrestrial ecosystems found in India, a sudden change in climate leads to the death of many organisms. This happens because they fail to adapt to the changing conditions and thus die. Many cases of mass death of organisms have been reported during natural calamities like drought, tsunami, flood, landslide, etc. Mass deaths of birds, seals, whales, etc have been reported many times in history.

Wildlife

According to the data that was released in 2021 by the Drought Early Warning System (DEWS), 21.06% of India faces drought-like conditions. These conditions include dry conditions seen in northern, central, and eastern states along with Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Odisha. Because of this water, food, and scarcity of shelter affect the lives of wild animals habiting these areas, and thus animals such as leopards, elephants, wild cats, foxes, etc enter into human settlements in search of water, food, etc.

Health

Health has been impacted the most due to these extreme changes in the weather. Any changes in the weather majorly affect the health of humans as well as other organisms habiting this country and the whole world. Count of people diagnosed with breathing problems is increasing day by day. Many humans as well as animals are developing different types of cancer as the country progresses towards the future.

Climate Change Impact on Terrestrial Ecosystem: Terrestrial ecosystems are natural ecosystems that include forests, grasslands, deserts, etc. It includes all the ecosystems that are found on land. The climate change impact on ecosystem is widely seen. There are many effects of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems which affect biodiversity. Climate controls almost every aspect of the ecosystem such as how animals behave, how plants grow, how animals develop, and how all these interact with the physical environment. In this article, we will look into the climate change impact on ecosystem – Terrestrial ecosystem.