Nam Nguyen, Flickr

Everyday more evidence is uncovered that link global warming to unprecedented changes in air and water temperature, water levels and the timing of seasons. These new conditions are causing radical changes in ecosystems around the world. As the ecosystems change, the plants and animals that have evolved with them over thousands of years cannot adapt quickly enough to survive. As a result, global warming is quickly replacing habitat destruction as the greatest threat to biodiversity.

It may seem like global warming is only affecting plants, animals and places far away like the poles or the Amazon rain forests, but in reality, those places are the "canary in the coal mine." Ecosystems, plants and animals across the United States will likely experience significant changes as well.

In the Southeast:
Forests are not expected to be able to adapt fast enough to global warming and could change dramatically within 30-80 years. Loblolly pine forests will likely be replaced by oak and elm hardwoods or-in persistent drought conditions-by grassland.

In the Great Plains:
Up to 91 percent of the wetlands of the Prairie Pothole region, will dry up by 2080, causing rapid decline of all waterfowl species that migrate through the Central Flyway.

In the West:
The milder winters expected under global warming scenarios could contribute to more severe outbreaks of insects such as the pine bark beetle, which can kill trees and make forests more vulnerable to wildfires.

In the Southern Coastal Areas:
Nearly 70 percent of waterfowl migrating along the Mississippi and Central flyways winter at sites in coastal Louisiana . Rising seas caused by global warming threaten to inundate marsh habitats, making it difficult for ducks, geese and other waterfowl to survive.

Pictoscribe, Flickr

In the Northern Region:
Moose population is in decline due to milder winters that are not killing off parasites. There has been almost a 75% reduction in the moose population of northwest Minnesota.

On the East Coast:
Barrier island refuges such as the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge south of Cape Cod and the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Massachusetts could be threatened or lost to sea level rise, hurting beach habitat for the threatened piping plover and endangered roseate tern (National Wildlife Federation, Global Warming in My State Fact Sheets).

Reference: World Wildlife Fund, on-line article "Nature at Risk."