12 Unexpected Effects of Global Warming

From tiny goats to more active volcanoes, here are the global warming effects you aren鈥檛 expecting.

You鈥檝e heard climate change is going to cause rising sea levels and warmer temperatures. And you know that glaciers are melting, and storms are just going to get stronger and stronger. But these aren鈥檛 the only consequences. The earth will develop lots of exciting new features as it warms. Some you鈥檒l love, others will be less鈥leasant. Here are a few of the terrestrial surprises coming your way:

1. Fewer Invasive Ants

Warming temperatures have expanded climatic ranges for many invasive and disease-ridden insects, from mountain pine beetles in the West to dengue- and malaria-carrying mosquitos in Europe and North America.

It鈥檚 not all bad news: Climate change might limit other invaders. The big-headed ant, one of the world鈥檚 species, and one that has traditionally dominated any ecosystem it enters, may be stopped in its tiny tracks鈥攐r at least slowed down: A of climate projections over the next six decades found that almost 20 percent of the ants鈥 climatic range will be lost as temperatures change. This might bring some relief to species that have suffered in the ants鈥 wake, like the Red-tailed Tropicbirds or Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, whose nestlings frequently fall prey to the fearsome Formicidae.

2.  Sex-changing Lizards

Some fish and amphibians are known to spontaneously change sex midway through life. But this behavior is new in wild reptiles, and climate change may be to blame. Excessively hot temperatures (above 90 degrees Fahrenheit) seem to be making male Australian central bearded dragons ignore their male chromosomes and grow lady parts, scientists .

Among 131 captured bearded dragons, 11 (all from particularly hot areas) had male chromosomes but lacked male sex organs. These dragons mated with other males, and even produced more eggs than true female dragons. The sex of their offspring was determined solely by temperature鈥攑roducing a lot more male-chromosome females. This could seriously unbalance the population going forward.

3. Murkier Waters

More sediment and organic matter will make its way into the oceans鈥攅ither because it鈥檚 washed in by increased rainfall, or dumped from a melted glacier. As a result, scientists that some oceans and seas will get murkier. This is most likely to happen around coastal zones and estuaries, which is exactly where many birds and fish feed.

Murky water makes it harder to hunt by sight, which means that birds including the Marbled Murrelet, gannets, and kittiwakes might struggle to find food. Other species, however, could thrive. 鈥淲hile it may impact some species negatively, it might actually make things better for other species,鈥 says Dr. John Piatt, a research wildlife biologist at the United States Geological Survey.

That鈥檚 great if you鈥檙e enjoying the ongoing : Increased precipitation in Norway, for example, is sweeping organic matter into the ocean, making it cloudy; as a result, some fish populations are declining while jellyfish populations boom.

4. Dead Desert Bacteria

Millions of types of bacteria thrive under the desert sand, helping prevent erosion by forming thick, sturdy layers called bio-crusts. Bio-crusts can ease dust storms and provide resources for desert plants.

But despite thriving in harsh desert conditions, bacteria in cold deserts be able to cope with heat brought on by global warming; others may take their place, and researchers aren鈥檛 sure what this will mean for the ecosystems. And because bacteria play a role in soil fertility they also help to slow down desertification; the replacement of one type of bacteria by another could have serious repercussions for the spread of deserts around the world.

5. Hot (Human) Tempers

Could rising temperatures also bring rising tempers? Recent research suggests they might. According to the analysis of 56 research papers on the subject, increased temperatures and fluctuating precipitation patterns are likely to cause an increase in both individual clashes, like fistfights, and larger brawls, like wars.

"Heat changes the way people feel and think, increasing anger and making thoughts of aggression increase," Richard Larrick, who studied the effects of heat on aggressive acts by baseball players, the Washington Post. Since 2014 was the , best to hope the Ice Bucket Challenge cooled some people off.

6. More Volcanic Activity

Sea level rise is attributed to glaciers melting, but few people know some of the other effects of glacial melt鈥攕uch as increased volcanic activity.

Glaciers are so heavy they weigh down on the earth鈥檚 crust. This prevents magma from reaching the earth鈥檚 surface. But as they melt鈥攁nd 鈥攖his weight shifts from land to water, so eventually oceans could weigh more than land masses. Scientists theorize that this could cause more volcanic activity as the pressure on underground magma shifts. 鈥淲hile some effect from the changes in subsurface pressure on volcanic activity makes a lot of sense,鈥 says Roland Burgmann, from University of California, Berkeley, 鈥渉ow important this effect is is more difficult to predict.鈥 But we鈥檙e going to find out!

7. Disappearing Beaches

As the sea level rises, it makes sense that beaches are the first to go. Already, 70 to 90 percent of beaches are being by this rising waters, exacerbated by major storms.

Many governments trying to preserve their beaches have been importing fresh sand鈥攐r dredging it up from the sea floor. While this is already a temporary solution (the sand just washes away again), it鈥檚 about to get more difficult. There鈥檚 currently a sand shortage, thanks to demand from the fracking, glass, and cement industries.

8. Faster-Growing Trees

Over the past 50 years, trees in Europe have been growing faster. Researchers from the Technische Universitaet Muenchen in Germany that in some cases, tree growth has increased by as much as 70 percent. (Trees in rainforests are expected to follow suit, but haven鈥檛 yet, .)

While there are multiple hypotheses to explain this phenomenon, researchers think higher levels of carbon dioxide and nitrogen in the atmosphere may contribute to tree growth. Those higher levels are thanks to climate change. 鈥淚t's also a bit warmer than it was (up to 1 degree Celsius on average), and this means the period of growth is extended in spring and autumn,鈥 says John Grace, from the University of Edinburgh.

At least bigger trees absorb more carbon dioxide.

9. Deteriorating Mummies

The world鈥檚 oldest man-made mummies aren鈥檛 Egyptian鈥攖hey鈥檙e Chinchorro, a fishing people that lived along the coast of present-day Chile and Peru. For upwards of 7,000 years these mummies鈥攑repared via de-fleshing the bodies and stuffing them with plant fibers鈥攔emained well-preserved in the bone-dry Atacama Desert, but that鈥檚 coming to an end.

In the last decade, the mummies have begun to rapidly deteriorate, with some even turning into black ooze. Rising humidity levels, possibly caused by climate change, may be to blame鈥攖he humid air facilitates the growth of mummy-chomping bacteria,  this March. Climate change may put other historical artifacts under siege too, from   to the  of Siberia.

10. Human Slackers

It鈥檚 hard to focus when it鈥檚 hot. And thanks to climate change, many places in the world are getting more and more scorchers. As a result, employee productivity is suffering, according to several recent papers.

In hotter-than-average countries like India and Thailand, for example, a mere one-degree Celsius rise could reduce economic output by up to 3.9 percent per country, according  from two Ivy League professors. Air conditioning mitigates some of these negative effects, but not for outdoor workers or those in poorer countries that can鈥檛 afford it. (Of course, air conditioners also contribute to climate change.) Even math test scores decline in the heat鈥攖hough, curiously, not reading ones鈥攁 different group of researchers  in 2012.

11. Shrinking Goats

Yes, seriously. With warmer temperatures come smaller goats. Since the 1980s, Alpine goats鈥攁lso known as Chamois鈥攈ave lost an average of 25 percent of their body mass, and climate change is likely to blame.

In the last 30 years, Chamois鈥 alpine home has warmed by 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit), so the Chamois now spend more time basking in the sun and less time looking for food. 鈥淚f climate change results in similar behavioral and body mass changes in domestic livestock," study co-author Dr. Stephen Willis says in a , 鈥渢his could have impacts on agricultural productivity in coming decades.鈥

12. More Lightning

Lightning strikes will increase thanks to鈥攜ou guessed it鈥攇lobal warming, according to researchers from University of California, Berkeley.

Lightning occurs when electrical charges build up within the water vapor of a cloud. Warmer temperatures mean there will be more water vapor trapped in the atmosphere, leading to more lightning.

Scientists lightning strikes to increase by about 12 percent for every degree Celsius gained.