The changing climate over the next 50 years is expected to drive a quarter of land animals and plants into extinction ,according to the first comprehensive study into the effect of higher temperatures on the natural world.The scaleof the disaster facing the planet shocked the scientists involved in the research published last week in the magazineNature.They estimate that more than 1 million species will be lost by 2050.
The report reveals that much of that loss-more than one in 10 ofall plants and animals-is irreversible because of the global warming gases discharged into the atmosphere.Butthe scientists say that action to curb greenhouse gases now could save many more.It took two years for leading world experts to consider the effect of climate change on six biologically rich regions of the world taking in 20% of the land surface.The research in Europe,Australia central and south America,and south Africa,chowed that species living in mountainous areas had a greaterchance of survival because they could move uphill to get cooler...
