Decrease in animal species hurts plants adapting to climate change

Animals are critical for biodiversity, and not just for their own sake, but also for the plants of the world as seeds of many plants are transported into more suitable habitats thanks to numerous seed-dispersing animal species. The findings illustrate a worrying feedback loop between biodiversity loss and the global climate crisis, with forests vital for trapping carbon. Machine learning was used to fill in the gaps for some animal species that haven’t been studied in-depth. Taken together, the research shows conservation efforts and restoring animal species to their former ranges can help fight climate change. “Animal declines can disrupt ecological networks in ways that threaten the climate resilience of entire ecosystems that people rely upon,” Fricke said.