With Canada coming out of its warmest winter on record, some may be enjoying the signs of spring that are showing up much earlier this year: plants beginning to pop up out of the ground, the earlier calls of robins or migrating birds or even just the warmer and sunnier days.
But this isn’t good news for the natural world.
Climate change is altering the way animals, insects and plants behave, and has cascading effects in delicately balanced ecosystems.
With longer springs, ticks are moving northward, bringing the chance of disease in animals and humans alike.
Likewise, mosquitoes — another disease carrier — are coming out earlier and are able to breed more often, thanks to warmer and sometimes wetter weather conditions. Already mosquito-borne diseases have increased by 10 per cent in Canada.
And while people may think of the iconic polar bear, floating on a lone floe in the Arctic with nowhere to go, as a symbol of the effects of climate change, there’s not a …