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Earth

Life feels the effects of a changing climate

By Fred Pearce

14 May 2008

CLIMATE change is already altering our planet’s biology, with only life in Antarctica so far spared its influence.

That’s the conclusion from an analysis of tens of thousands of individual local studies covering shrinking glaciers, changing river flows, melting permafrost, increased coastal erosion, and warming lakes and rivers. It adds up, the authors say, to the first global picture that unambiguously demonstrates the effect of human-induced climate change.

The study, published in Nature () this week, is based on more comprehensive data than any previous investigation of the biological effects of climate change. Cynthia Rosenzweig of NASA’s Goddard…

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