ABSTRACT
It is widely acknowledged that global climate change will lead to increasing global temperatures, rising sea levels, and decreasing snow and ice cover on land and over bodies of water within the next 50-100 years. Current projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) range from low emissions scenarios (projected atmospheric carbon concentrations of 550 parts per million, or ppm) to high emissions scenarios (projected atmospheric carbon concentrations of 880 ppm) (Walthall et al. 2012). Increasing global temperatures will have numerous effects on both natural and human systems, including those associated with food and agriculture. Higher atmospheric temperatures will have an effect on the frequency and volume of rain events in addition to influencing plant and animal geographic ranges and interactions. While the full range of climate change implications for ecosystem and human communities is yet unknown, it is widely accepted that the emissions of today will influence how our world might change in the latter half of this century (Bernstien et al. 2007; Frumhoff et al. 2007).
