Field Guide to Climate Change

Warmer waters increase the prevalence of a parasite called Ichthyophonus, which destroys heart and muscle tissue.

Warm waters have altered the ocean food web and caused thousands of birds to starve to death.

Unusual warmth in the Pacific Ocean is a likely culprit in a spike in sea otter deaths in this area in 2015.

Warming temperatures have hastened the development of spruce beetles, which have killed trees over a million acres.

Less snow is falling in the northern part of the yellow-cedar's range, and the loss of the insulating cover is allowing the roots to freeze, killing the trees.

Caribou are affected by climate change in all seasons: icier winters make it more difficult to find food, spring plants are greening before new calves can use them, and summertime biting insects are worsening.

These seals depend on sea ice for rearing their pups, and populations are down as the ice shrinks.

As sea ice retreats faster in the spring, the walruses are left with no safe place to leave their pups while they forage in the shallow waters near the coast.

Melting sea ice is rapidly shrinking the habitat of this "poster child" of climate change.

Ringed seals need ice with a thick cover of snow on top to protect their young, and breeding success has declined as the ice has shrunk.

In 2018, more than 1,000 cold-stunned turtles washed ashore along Cape Cod, over 200 of them already dead from hypothermia or pneumonia.

Warming waters cause heat stress to the animals, which are now a "critically depleted" fishery south of Cape Cod.

Warmer temperatures are affecting ocean circulation patterns, making it harder for the cod to find food.

Seals that range farther to the north with warming temperatures are encountering a parasite that they have no resistance to, causing many young seals to die of liver failure.

Whales have altered their migration patterns, leading to increased mortality from ships and entanglements.

Hurricane Maria in 2017 dealt a devastating blow to the parrot's forest habitat, along with most of the island.

Warmer temperatures and drought mean the final generation of the season is laying fewer eggs than in previous years.

Warming waters in the Gulf of Maine are causing food web changes that cause puffin chicks to starve.

Warmer winters have caused an explosion in tick populations, which are so bad they can cause anemia and loss of fur.

Shorter snow season is causing a classic case of "phenologic mismatch" -- snowy white hares in brown forests.

Bull Trout need very cold water, so warming temperatures have caused a loss of to 20% of suitable habitat in parts of Idaho.

Warming rivers allow non-native rainbow trout to move in and hybridize with the cutthroats.

Warmer temperatures on their nesting beaches reduce breeding success and skew the sex ratio of the juveniles.

Warming temperatures allow malaria-carrying mosquitoes to move upslope, shrinking the birds' malaria-free refuge.

Warming temperatures have hastened the development of spruce beetles, which have killed trees over a million acres.

Warmer stream temperatures increase the salmon's metabolic demand on the heart and muscles, and fewer are surviving the upstream journey to spawn.

Less snow is falling in the northern part of the yellow-cedar's range, and the loss of the insulating cover is allowing the roots to freeze, killing the trees.

These endangered seals breed on low-lying islands, some of which have become completely submerged due to sea-level rise.

In Yellowstone, over half of the small ponds where the salamander breeds have dried up over the past 20 years.

In Yellowstone, over half the small ponds where this frog breeds have dried up in the past 20 years.

In Yellowstone, over half of the small ponds where the frog breeds have dried up over the past 20 years.

Heat and drought have contributed to sudden aspen decline across over a million acres in the West.

These cold-loving rodents are being forced farther up mountains by high temperatures, and their populations are shrinking.

In 2017, Hurricane Harvey killed 24 of the 29 hens that were being tracked at the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, as well as 80 percent of the birds in the only other wild population.

A combination of severe events, particularly hurricanes and severe fires, have wiped out populations of this endangered sparrow.

High temperatures contribute to bleaching and to disease in corals.

Both drought and flood affect the kites' ability to find snails to eat. In 2017, Hurricane Irma destroyed every single one of the 44 active snail kite nests on Lake Okeechobee.

This species was thought to be extinct for several years after Hurricane Andrew hit. Since Hurricane Irma, only a single individual has been spotted.

Changes in the normal pattern of wet and dry seasons are affecting chick survival and even causing adult birds to starve.

High temperatures can kill these mountain creatures outright, and populations are winking out in the Great Basin region.

Drought conditions are deadly for lambs, and a number of populations have shrunk in the region's persistent drought.

Living only in a single warm spring, these fish are already at the upper limit of survivable temperatures; as the spring has warmed further the population has dropped.

A freak storm on their wintering grounds killed 270 million monarchs in a single swoop, and they have also been hit by drought in their summer range.

Heat and drought have weakened many trees, allowing beetle infestations to kill trees across the region, with over 90% mortality at some sites.

Floods, drought and wildfire have all had a negative effect on the butterfly's habitat and its population.

A severe drought in 2002 killed every single Sonoran pronghorn fawn and most of the adults, and the population plunged from about 140 animals to just 19.

Birds are showing up 900 miles north of their normal range, but failing to breed successfully there.

Warming ocean waters have led to food web changes that caused thousands of pups to starve.

Warming ocean waters have led to food web changes that caused chicks to starve by the thousands.

Persistent drought has shrunk river flow and warmed the rivers, which has killed the majority of winter-run juveniles for two years in a row.

Persistent drought has reduced river flows and caused the remaining water to warm past levels that this endangered fish can tolerate.

Persistent drought has reduced river flows and allowed saltwater to seep upstream, leading to the deaths of juvenile fish.