One of global warming's most looming threats is its potential to upset well established equilibriums -- species embracing unique and specific relationships with their environments will find their existence threatened.

The polar bear with its dependence on ice as a platform for hunting seals is one species whose survival prospects on a warmer planet will literally be on thin ice. Another bear, this one resident south of the equator -- the koala, may see its harmonic dependence upon the eucalyptus tree for its diet similarly shaken. Scientists in Australia have discovered that the increased atmospheric CO₂ of a globally warmed world could reduce the levels of nitrogen and thus nutrients in eucalyptus leaves while increasing tannins -- a toxin.

These southern and northern hemispheric examples of species threatened by a warming climate are but a few of the species whose prospects look dim in warmer world.

» Koala E-Cards
» Polar Bear E-Cards

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