The east part of North America has beat the estimates of 5000 - 10,000 to fewer than 1500 harlequin ducks. The main threat for the harlequin duck is not known, but most endangered species biologists say that it is likely due to over-hunting, this happens because the ducks frequently eat close to shore and nearby hunters can take an easy kill. There habitats have been contaminated, altered, and destroyed. They used to hang out in fast flowing streams that were booming with food and life. Now, those streams have been destroyed and changed to mining and hydro projects that affect the food and breeding grounds in the winter, completely collapsing the ecosystem that it once was.
The biomes of the harlequin duck consist of coastal marine biomes. This is where they build …show more content…
The first way that climate change affects this biome is coral bleaching. This is the most noticeable to the human eye it is a stress caused by hot water temperatures and leads to the death of corals. The next reason is that scientist are almost sure that climate change due to greenhouse gasses will create a new set of unpredictable weather cycles through each year. Tropical storms are increasing the damage done to coral reefs. As the coastal area gets warmer each year, the fish in the sea have moved towards deeper waters. Every time this biome gets warmer from climate change, the metabolism, life cycle, and behaviour of marine species changes. A lot of species use the temperature as a notification for advancing in reproduction. When this is changed it can seriously impact the ecosystem. With global warming and climate change, comes carbon dioxide. When the ocean soaks up this carbon dioxide and the ocean becomes more acidic. This makes it harder to breathe for fish and other aquatic species. And on a side note, the ocean is the main reason that global warming isn't as bad as it should be, like I said, the ocean soaks up a lot of the carbon