Discuss the potential impacts of climate change on ecosystem services. [9] Introduction – briefly, what is an ecosystem service (give 1 or 2 examples), what is climate change (caused by GHG emission, rise in temperature… change in weather patterns). A couple of sentences.Main body – For each paragraph, think of ONE biome that is being affected by climate change.- State an impact of climate change on the biome, and how this is affecting an ecosystem service.e.g. The arctic tundra is experiencing a rise in temperature due to climate change – this is causing some of the ice to melt. This melting ice means that less sunlight is reflected from the Earth, lowering the albedo and further increasing the Earth’s temperature.- For top marks, think of 2 or 3 climate change impacts on each biome and then how each of these has an impact on ecosystem services.You can use the marking rubric to see how you can improve Use THREE DIFFERENT BIOMES (so 3 paragraphs in the main body of the essay)Note – not all impacts are negative…could some biomes actually see an increase in biodiversity, productivity (amount of photosynthesis), or other useful service due to climate change.Don’t forget to think about impacts on humans (e.g. loss of tourism opportunities, recreation etc)Conclusion: can be very short.e.g. ‘Although in some areas such as boreal forest in the North biodiversity and productivity may increase due to climate change, the change in weather patterns away from their equilibrium is likely to mean that most areas experience a reduction in ecosystem services, which may force these areas towards a tipping point. Biomes could include:Desert (e.g. Sahara), areas near the desert (e.g. Sahel, Africa), Tundra (e.g. Arctic), Coral reefs (e.g. great barrier, Tropical rainforests (e.g. Amazon), Boreal Rainforests (e.g. Northern Russia or Canada), wetlandsThe impacts of climate change you could think about:- Temperature rise, drought, more extreme rainfall (monsoon), ocean acidification, salination of water (from sea level rise), desertification, sea level rise, loss of land, loss of biodiversity (e.g. pollinators and insects), reduction in air quality.
