As climate change brings rising temperatures, droughts, shifting patterns of precipitation and longer

growing seasons, plants and animals are evolving to keep pace. Biologists have observed squirrels and
salmon developing at an accelerated pace, causing them to reproduce at a younger age.

Extreme heat and poor air quality increase complications from underlying heart and respiratory
conditions like asthma, renal failure, and pre-term birth, and as temperatures rise, there will be more
heat-related illness and deaths in both urban and rural areas.

As climate change alters temperature and weather patterns, it will also impact plant and animal life.
Scientists expect the number and range of species, which define biodiversity, will decline greatly as
temperatures continue to rise.

Climate change also alters the life cycles of plants and animals. For example, as temperatures get
warmer, many plants are starting to grow and bloom earlier in the spring and survive longer into the fall.
Some animals are waking from hibernation sooner or migrating at different times, too.