Don Baccus Wrote:

> One problem for residents of the PNW is that, as far as I
> know, there is no consensus on is the effect warming will have
> on the El Nino phenomena. This phenomena affects precipation
> in much of Western North America. One problem is that (again,
> as far as I know) no consensus among climatologists as to the
> extent the phenomena affects North America. Though over the
> years the consensus has generally been "gee, more than we
> though ten years ago!"

It has been discovered that El Nino is largely repsonsible for rainfall
patterns across most of central and southern Africa - a great surprise to
all :-o


> Here's another speculation: the effect of climate change may
> be more easily handled by choosing plant species, or perhaps
> non-migratory animal species, rather than migratory birds.
> Sorting out all the possible causes for changes in numbers or
> ranges of migratory birds would seem inherently more complex
> than doing so for sedentary species.

Never a truer word said. What about insects or other cold blooded animals.
Plants may respond to more to day length (assumuing the ground is not frozen),
so choosing an organism which responds more directly to temperature would be
ideal - the fly in the ointment :-) however, is that everything is dependent
on everything else.

What about a debate on suitable ecosystems, or more controversially "what is
an ecosystem" - only kidding, honest ;-)


Stuart MacKay