In my thesis, I study the impact of climate change on the decline of the unique Australian biodiversity. Its uniqueness is due to the separation of the Australian continent from the former super-continent of Gondwana, which Australia separated from together with Antarctica some 180 million years ago. In this thesis, we present climate change in Australia in general. We categorize the causes of climate change as either natural or human-caused. Next, we describe the consequences of climate change, such as rising temperatures, wildfires, long periods of draught and rising sea levels, and explain how Australian biodiversity responds to these consequences. Due to the impact of climate change on various local ecosystems, many Australian plant and animal species are now endangered. In the thesis, we list and present some of the most vulnerable species and analyze the change in the number of extinct and critically endangered species in the past few years. In the conclusion, we present various forecasts for Australian biodiversity, focusing on different sources that predict different scenarios. The future of Australian biodiversity is uncertain, but people can contribute to the reduction of harmful consequences by respecting various measures for the restoration of habitats and by encouraging sustainable practices.
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