- Title:
-
Associations between Climate Change and Natural Systems in Australia
- Date:
- September 2005
- Organisations
- DSEWPC
- Authors:
- LYNDA E. CHAMBERS
- Location:
- Australia, Australia
Overview
Global surface air temperatures have risen approximately 0.6°C since the mid-nineteenth century, and the magnitude of this warming is the largest recorded
in any century over the last 1000 years (Houghton et al. 2001). Consistent with global trends, Australia’s average temperature increased 0.7°C from 1910 to 1999, with the largest increases occurring since about 1950 (Collins et al. 2000; Nicholls 2003).
Recently there has been a resurgence of interest in the use of natural systems as indicators of climate change, with evidence mounting that the anomalously high temperatures seen in the twentieth century have already been associated with changes in many physical and biological systems around the globe, including accelerated glacial retreat, tree line movements, the lengthening of growing seasons, and alterations in the phenology (timing) of breeding, migration, and flowering of many species (Hughes 2000; Sparks et al. 2002; Sparks and Smithers 2002; Walther et al. 2002; Parmesan and Yohe 2003; Root et al. 2003).
This renewed interest has occurred for a number of reasons. First, many natural systems have been shown to be very sensitive to changes in climate (Menzel 2002; Sparks and Smithers 2002). Many plant and animal species respond to changes in temperature, rainfall, humidity, sunshine, and other climate variables. This makes them valuable indicators of combined changes in the climate system, through their integration of the various climate elements (Menzel 2002).
