How can global climate change affect habitats?

• A. By causing habitat loss through changes in temperature, precipitation, and sea level rise.
• B. By increasing soil nutrients.
• C. By reducing habitat connectivity.
• D. By eliminating all plant life.

Answer: (A)

Climate change reshapes habitats by changing the conditions that plants and animals need—temperature, rainfall, and sea level. When these conditions shift, many places become unsuitable, causing habitats to shrink or disappear. For example, warmer temperatures and altered precipitation can dry out some areas or flood others, while rising sea levels swallow coastal wetlands and mangrove forests. That combination—changes in temperature, precipitation, and sea level—directly drives habitat loss, making it the best answer.

Other ideas aren’t as consistently tied to habitat loss. Soil nutrients aren’t universally increased by climate change, even though nutrient cycling can shift. Reducing habitat connectivity can happen as species shift ranges and landscapes become fragmented, but that’s a related consequence rather than the primary way climate change erodes habitats. Eliminating all plant life isn’t a realistic outcome of climate change alone.