Impacts of climate change and environmental factors on reproduction and development in wildlife

摘要

The robustness of the growth of the human population in the face of environmental impacts is in con-trast to the sensitivity of wildlife. There is a danger that the success of reproduction of humansprovides a false sense of security for the public, media and politicians with respect to wildlife survival,the maintenance of viable ecosystems and the capacity for recovery of damaged ecosystems andendangered species. In reality, the success of humans to populate the planet has been dependenton the combination of the ability to reproduce successfully and to minimize loss of offspring throughcontrolling and manipulating their own micro-environment. In contrast, reproduction in wildlife isthreatened by environmental changes operating at many different physiological levels.