The Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity in the African Savanna

Abstract

For a long time, the African savannah has been famous for its extremely rich biodiversity. However, the changed global climate is threatening this special and precious ecosystem and is predicted to cause a huge blow to plants and animals in this region. Recent research shows that the rising temperature, the changing pattern of extreme rainfall events, and woody encroachment have impacted the completeness and continuity of the food web in the African savannah--the decreasing of some plants causes the food shortage of some herbivores. Decreasing herbivores would further lead to the difficulty of hunting many carnivores. Thus, the change in global warming would impact the biodiversity of species in the African savannah by affecting the food web in this region. Although existing research has achieved certain results in the field of the impacts of climate change on the African savannah, there are still huge gaps worthy of continued research. This paper discusses the impacts of climate change on the biodiversity and functions of the ecosystem in the African savannah region by analyzing the impacts of climate change on specific animals (Elephants, Small mammals, and Ants). This discussion emphasizes the importance of making strategies to reduce climate change’s impacts and protect the African savannah’s biodiversity. It provides the generality of current impacts of climate change in the African savannah for further research in this field.