Nature is lost?
“On New Year’s Eve it was more than 16 degrees, on New Year’s Eve it was more than 15 degrees. The heat records for those days have been broken by several degrees. That is as if the world record in the 100 meters is suddenly broken by 2 seconds: never seen. These are very clear consequences of global warming. And of course many species think: it’s 16 degrees, spring has sprung. Many animals – hedgehogs, bats, frogs, toads, salamanders – have awakened from hibernation while it is still full winter.”
They are in danger if the weather starts to freeze?
“Many amphibians have already moved to the water. But many pools had little water after the dry summer. If we get another winter prick like we had three months ago, those pools will freeze very quickly, right down to the bottom. And then those animals freeze to death. When it thaws, dozens of dead salamanders rise to the surface.
“Suppose it no longer freezes, then it is possible that the pools dry out too early, so that the larvae of those salamanders can no longer extract oxygen from the water.”
Can animals that wake up too early go back to hibernation?
“Salamanders that are already in the water no longer go into hibernation. Other animals can hibernate again. But that all takes a lot of energy. Their body needs to prepare for hibernation. It is a whole process where the body goes into a lethargic state, with a low heart rate and slow metabolism.
“The annoying thing is: hibernating animals build up a fat supply to get through hibernation. At these temperatures, they wake up and begin to use up some of that supply. When it freezes again, they have already consumed part of their much-needed reserves. These animals may not make it through the end of winter or start spring in very bad physical condition. In recent years, for example, we have seen that many toads wake up very thin from hibernation.
“If you add all of that up as potential threats, it can become too much for an animal species. That could mean the end of a population in the short term.”
Climate change cannot be reversed. Can animals adapt to it?
“A hibernating animal must be able to sleep soundly. But we no longer have the cold winters of fifty years ago. Temperatures are much more irregular. We see a lot of things moving forward on the calendar of nature as a result. Half a century ago, half of hazelnuts didn’t bloom until February. Today, most hazels are already in bloom. This shows that very large leaps are made in an evolutionarily very short time.
“Many organisms could keep up with those changes over hundreds or thousands of years, but not at the rate at which the climate is changing today.”
Those animals then look for other places to survive?
“If it gets too hot, more and more animals will move north. We see more and more southern species – such as birds, locusts, dragonflies, butterflies – moving from southern Europe to central France or Flanders. But what do you do as a polar bear? There is nothing further north than the North Pole. At a certain point, flights are no longer possible. So it is very difficult to adapt for certain species.”