THE IMPACT OF CHANGING CLIMATE ON NATURAL VEGETATION: A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

This research paper deals with the intricate relationship between changing climate patterns and their profound effects on natural vegetation. With climate change emerging as a critical global concern, it is imperative to understand the repercussions on ecosystems and biodiversity. Changing climate patterns results in change in temperature fluctuations, altered precipitation patterns and drought stress, changes in extreme weather events, snow packs, wind events, Ice storms, sea level rise, tropical cyclones etc. According to the "Assessment of climatic change over the Indian region - A report of the Ministry of Earth Sciences Government of India''_ in the period of 30 years (1986 to 2015) temperature of the warmest day and the coldest night of the year have risen by 0. 63 degrees centigrade and 0. 4 degree centigrade respectively. Such changes cause risk of soil erosion, nutrient deposition, spreading of contaminants and pathogens, flooding etc. All these have intense effect on biodiversity and ecosystem services, phonological changes in natural vegetation (forest flora) e. g. in leaf phenology (bud break, leaf maturation, leaf senescence etc), species diversity, patterns of invasive species, forest productivity and biomass production,  forest health etc. This leads to an overall impact on the forest and its ecosystem. Repercussion is that  plants face an uncertain future. This paper aims  to contribute to a better understanding of the intricate dynamics between climate change and the world's natural vegetation.