WHILE GLOBAL WARMING and associated climatic change have profound geological impacts on animal habitats, they also impact the dynamic living processes of the ecosystems of animals. Though the two types of impacts are highly interconnected, it is paramount to distinguish between changes that express themselves mainly at a climatic and geological level, from changes that require an ecosystems perspective. Unfortunately, the mass media, governments, and transnational conservation agencies and organizations often conflate these two types of changes. This conflation represents a major impediment to public understanding of global warming and global climatic change.

While many of the geological and climatic consequences have become starkly visible to the non-scientific community, ecosystem effects often have either not yet manifested themselves, or are only noticeable through the application ...