How many species could go extinct from climate change? It depends on how hot it gets.

Photo caption: Two Kea birds, Arthurs Pass South Island New Zealand. The species is listed as threatened in that country and climate change is among the reasons their numbers are in danger. Photo credit: Education Images / Universal Images Group via Getty / Universal Images Group Editorial. Article by Jonathan Lambert. NPR – December 7, 2024.  Research article: Science.

To consider how climate change could cause some extinctions, imagine a tiny mountain bird that eats the berries of a particular mountain tree. That tree can only grow at a specific elevation around the mountain, where it’s evolved over millennia to thrive in that microclimate. As global temperatures rise, both the tree and the bird will be forced to […]

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