Animals flee climate change at 8in an hour

Plants and animals are fleeing the effects of climate change far faster than experts suspected, new research has shown.

Scientists estimate that species are moving away from the Earth’s warm equatorial belt at a rate equivalent to 20 centimetres (8in) per hour.

Migration towards the poles since the early 1970s has been three times more rapid than earlier studies indicated.

Movements up hills and mountains, to cooler higher altitudes, have been twice as fast.

A team of British-led scientists uncovered the trend after analysing data on more than 2,000 responses by plant and animal species.

The researchers calculated that every ten years on average species had moved 17.6 kilometres in the direction of the poles. Shifts to higher elevations were at the rate of 12.2 metres per decade.

Lead scientist and conservation biologist Professor Chris Thomas, from the University of York, said: “These changes are equivalent to animals and plants shifting away from the equator at around 20 centimetres per hour, for every hour of the day, for every day of the year. This has been going on for the last 40 years and is set to continue for at least the rest of this century.”

The study, reported in the journal Science, shows a clear link between species migrations and climate change. Plants and animals in regions most affected by global warming are those that have moved the furthest, say the researchers.

At the individual level, the study revealed wide variation between the movement patterns of different species – the comma butterfly for example has moved 220 kilometres northwards from central England to Edinburgh, in only two decades.