Climate change: Species migration in Florida and beyond is causing environmental problems

Ed Killer | Treasure Coast Newspapers

Show Caption Hide Caption Climate change: How a warmer Earth could mean more snow Climate change is making winters colder despite rising temperatures and hotter summers. Here’s why.

I walked out the door one day this week to get the newspaper. It was like stepping into a hot sponge.

Didn't "fall" start, like, six weeks ago? Prove it to me.

We're halfway to the first day of winter and I'm still dripping sweat like it's the Fourth of July.

The record heat is becoming a trend. Global warming, climate change, a natural cycle of our planet's weather — call it what you want — it's just plain hot and getting hotter every year.

A hot time

2019 is on pace to be among the top three of the warmest years on record, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. Nine of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 2005, with only the 1998 El Niño year as the anomaly.

Some other red hot, sweaty statistics:

Each of the last five years are among the warmest five years on record — in order, 2016 was the warmest followed by 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2014.

September 2019 was the 43rd consecutive September and 417th consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th Century average temperature.

January through September 2019 was the second warmest period in 140 years, measuring 1.9 degrees above the 20th Century average.

Nov. 6 was the 149th consecutive day above 89 degrees in Miami, a new record.

I know I shouldn't complain. After all, I'm a South Florida native. High heat and sticky humidity is in my DNA.

More: This was the hottest October on record for Vero Beach

I wouldn't know what to do in 2 inches of snow, or after three consecutive days of gray skies. Panic, probably.

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We're not the only animals that are feeling the heat. The fauna, fish and flora of Florida are feeling it too. And it's making them change their ways.

Climate change threatens two-thirds of bird species in US A great majority of bird species in the United States are under threat of extinction if climate change continues on its predicted path.

On the move

Animals, fish, birds and even plants are starting to move north. It's creating problems.

Some interesting examples:

For the first time in more than 100 years, the Everglade snail kite is nesting north of Orlando. Last year, biologists were stunned to find four nests in Paynes Prairie just south of Gainesville. This year, there were 75.

Snook, a fish with tropical characteristics susceptible to cold temperatures, once was a rare catch in waters north of Cape Canaveral or Homosassa. Anglers are catching them with regularity in Daytona and sometimes in the St. Johns River at Jacksonville.

Red mangrove trees are "walking" their way up the coasts too. They are actually impinging on salt marsh habitat north of the Mosquito Lagoon, causing changes to habitat and moving the animals and birds that depend on that habitat to live.

The Sunshine State is home to more than 16,000 species of native fish, wildlife and invertebrates. Many are easily affected by slight alterations in their environments. Observers have seen climate change impact wildlife by altering:

Community dynamics

Habitat suitability

Fitness and survival

Over 11,000 scientists declare global ‘climate emergency’ Scientists from 153 countries, using analysis of more than 40 years of data, warn of “untold human suffering” if action on climate change isn’t taken.

Climate change is more than just rising temperatures. It can also result in:

Changing rainfall patterns

Causing sea level rise

Changing ocean chemistry

Creating more wildfires

Generating stronger hurricanes

Increasing the chance for drought

Warming temperatures are more frequently:

Causing low dissolved oxygen in waterways, which causes fish kills

Helping expand the range of invasive exotic species

Increasing the risk and occurrence of wildfires

Creating the loss of keystone species

Intensifying algae blooms

Sea level rise of 1 meter, or a little more than 3 feet, would impact about a quarter of 1,200 species by cutting 50% of their range, according to the Climate Adaptation Explorer for Florida, assembled through a partnership of the:

The situation would be even more dire for the endangered Key deer, which could lose 90% of its range, from the pine forests to mangrove swamps to freshwater wetlands in the Florida Keys.

A lot of what is coming may be difficult to sidestep. But we can all work harder on reducing our individual carbon footprint. Conscientious choices like these can help:

Saving water

Planting native trees

Planning and combining errands to reduce miles driven

Reducing home heating, cooling and energy costs

Recycling and reusing

At least wildlife and ecosystem managers in Florida have already developed a playbook to help manage some of the unavoidable changes coming. The FWC's approach uses a science-based plan to help conserve the state's unique and diverse wildlife resources. Among these actions is the:

Development of voluntary, incentive-based programs for conservation

Acquisition and protection of important lands and waters

Coordination of conservation efforts through partnership development

Public education and awareness of conservation issues

Research and monitoring of species and habitats

Conservation planning (species assessments and systematic, landscape-based efforts)

Some of what may come may still have dire consequences for some of the native species of Florida's environment and wildlife. Good thing the state's lead agency is moving forward with a good plan and its eyes wide open.

Marine scientist wants action from residents, government on climate change | Florida Voices Laura Geselbracht, 59, of Fort Lauderdale, is a marine scientist with The Nature Conservancy. "We have to act," on climate change, she says.

Ed Killer is the outdoors columnist for Treasure Coast Newspapers and TCPalm.com, and this column reflects his opinion. Friend him on Facebook at Ed Killer, follow him on Twitter @tcpalmekiller or email him at ed.killer@tcpalm.com.