{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.022535211267605635, 'fraction_numerical': 0.01784037558685446, 'mean_word_length': 4.98876404494382, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Making a difference: the role of comparative biology in tackling climate change

For many, 2020 was notorious for the COVID-19 pandemic, but for climate scientists, the year is also infamous for tying with 2016 as the hottest since records began. ‘Nine of the warmest years on record have occurred since the last JEB special issue in 2010 on the things that are changing as a consequence of Earth’s growing population and our impact on the global system’, says JEB Editor-in-Chief, Craig Franklin. With the ice caps and glaciers melting, devastating bushfires scorching arid regions, and hurricanes and typhoons battering coastal communities, the impact on local ecosystems has been catastrophic. Estimates suggest that 3 billion animals died in the blazes that engulfed Australia in 2020. Although many impacts of climate change are not as dramatic, they are no less profound. As temperatures gradually increase, rainfall patterns alter and ocean currents shift; species that once survived in comfort are forced to relocate or are taken to the brink of extinction.