Effects of climate change on biomes

Climate change is altering biomes already now, adversely affecting ecosystems on land and in the ocean. Climate change represents the long-term changes of temperature and average weather patterns. In addition, it leads to a substantial increase in both the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. As a region's climate changes, a change in its flora and fauna follows. For instance, out of 4000 species analyzed by the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, half were found to have shifted their distribution to higher latitudes or elevations in response to climate change.

Furthermore, climate change may disrupt the ecology among interacting species, via changes in behaviour and phenology, or via climate niche mismatch. For example, climate change can cause species to move in different directions, potentially disrupting their interactions with each other.

Examples of effects on some biome types are provided in the following. Research into desertification is complex, and there is no single metric which can define all aspects. However, more intense climate change is still expected to increase the current extent of drylands on the Earth's continents. Most of the expansion will be seen over regions such as "southwest North America, the northern fringe of Africa, southern Africa, and Australia".

Mountains cover approximately 25 percent of earth's surface and provide a home to more than one-tenth of global human population. Changes in global climate pose a number of potential risks to mountain habitats.

Boreal forests, also known as taiga, are warming at a faster rate than the global average. leading to drier conditions in the Taiga, which leads to a whole host of subsequent issues. Climate change has a direct impact on the productivity of the boreal forest, as well as health and regeneration.

Almost no other ecosystem is as vulnerable to climate change as coral reefs. Updated 2022 estimates show that even at 1.5 °C (2.7 °F), only 0.2% of the world's coral reefs would still be able to withstand marine heatwaves, as opposed to 84% being able to do so now, with the figure dropping to 0% by 2 °C (3.6 °F) and beyond.