In very brief, we've been learning about many of the discoveries and what motivates Tom and Lee and other researchers here at the station in the work at this site and in other places.
So, evolution works slowly, taking millions of years in cases. Species interactions become highly specialized. One of the problems with climate change is that it is causing changes more rapidly that species can adaot. Small changes can make very big differences around the food web that result in imbalances or a loss of species or ecosystems. We really don't know all of the plants and animals in the world or how they interact with others. As Lee outs it, "there are books and books that no one has ever read and the library is burning down."
This happens at home, on the eastern seaboard of the United states: birds migrate north slightly earlier than they had been, perhaps a week of two earlier than they used to, but their traditional food supply, the horseshoe crab eggs, are not there yet. The result? A significant number of birds are underweight, can't make the flight North to established breeding grounds or can't successfully breed once they get there. Within a few seasons, a species can collapse.
Of course, this can happen in many directions.
Caterpillars are very abundant and voracious eaters. Here in the rainforest, we might not notice because there's so much growth, but slight changes still make big differences. Parasites that live off caterpillars are very delicate and can't survive without a host. If those hosts are moving on a day or two ahead of the parasites' development, then the parasites won't survive. Parasites die, caterpillars thrive more than they had, more plants get eaten and the system goes out of balance.
In addition, many crops can have pests controlled through biological control, by introducing their predators to the crops rather than showering crops with pesticides. This also helps to preserve pollinators such as bees.
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