Climate change isn’t affecting just the weather – experts are pointing to this as an explanation for Hurricane Sandy and the Nor’easter that followed – but it’s also threatening the existence of pandas (an already endangered species).
A new study found that the bamboo population in an isolated region of China, home to nearly 20 percent of the world’s giant pandas, will be destroyed as a result of climate change. According to predictions, almost all livable panda habitat will disappear from China’s Qinling Mountains by the end of the 21st century. (What the what?)
We pulled some top findings/suggestions from the study.
- 99 percent of food that pandas in the wild eat is bamboo. Scientist predictions for the future of the three bamboo species found in the region: between 80 to 100 percent would disappear.
- Bamboo plants are highly sensitive to temperature change. And since the Qinling Mountains are isolated from other suitable habitats, it would be unlikely for a new species of bamboo to grow there.
- The results also suggest that climate change, along with human impact, should be taken into consideration when determining how to best protect the pandas.
- One possible solution would be to develop a heat-tolerant bamboo species and plant it in the region.
- However, Stanford ecologist Terry Root points out that researchers would still need to ensure that all pandas could receive sufficient nutrients from the plants.
- Research team member Jianguo Liu also pointed out that the long-term solution is not to put the giant pandas in a zoo or breeding - citing genetic diversity, among other issues.
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