Climate change is being considered as the primary reason for the shifting of vegetation on a worldwide basis. Scientists say that projected global warming is supposed to decrease the amount of temperate dry lands by a third and will induce dry deep soil conditions during the agricultural growing season over the rest of the 21st century.
According to Phys, a computer model has been set up that will calculate the many components of the water cycle daily for 30 years at 20000 sites. This is all meant to keep an eye on the current climate change along with 16 possible future climatic conditions.
As per the scientists, dry land habitats have increased by 4-8% in the 20th century and currently cover 40% of the global terrestrial surface, inducing global climatic change. This expansion is likely to continue as the climate keeps heating up. A continuous climatic change, especially in the amount of rain and soil moisture in tropical and subtropical regions is an evident form of the tremendous global warming that the planet is experiencing. This is having an adverse effect on the vegetation to a great extent.
According to Berkeley News, the vegetation around the world is on the move due to the change in climate. In a paper published in the journal "Global Ecology and Biogeography", researchers present evidence that over the past century, vegetation has been gradually moving towards comparatively cooler regions, like the poles and the mountain slopes, and also towards the equator, where there is more rainfall.
An estimated one-tenth to one-half of the land mass on Earth will be highly vulnerable to climate changes by the end of this century, owing to the vegetation shifts. It is also dependent to a great extent on how effectively human are able to fare with the greenhouse gas emissions. Some examples of the biome shifts that occurred include grasslands taking place of dense woodlands in the African Sahel and, and shrub-lands intervene into the tundra region in the arctic.
Going by the scientists, around 1 billion people live in areas that are highly vulnerable to future vegetation shifts. Reduction in harmful gas emissions that cause climatic changes can help to stabilize the ecosystems that provide important services to people.
