BEIJING, Nov. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Animal and plant species have begun dying off or changing sooner than predicted due to global warming, according to a review of hundreds of research studies.

    University of Texas biologist Camille Parmesan reviewed 866 scientific studies, and released her study in the journal Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics.

    "We are finally seeing species going extinct," said Parmesan, "Now we've got the evidence. It's here. It's real. This is not just biologists' intuition. It's what's happening."

    At least 70 species of frogs, mostly mountain-dwellers that had nowhere to go to escape the creeping heat, have gone extinct because of climate change, the analysis says. It also reports that between 100 and 200 other cold-dependent animal species are in deep trouble, such as emperor penguins that have dropped from 300 breeding pairs to just nine in the western Antarctic Peninsula, and polar bears, which are dropping in numbers and weight in the Arctic.

    Parmesan and others have been predicting such changes for years, but even she was surprised to find evidence that it's already happening; she figured it would be another decade away.

    Parmesan reports seeing trends of animal populations moving northward if they can, of species adapting slightly because of climate change, of plants blooming earlier, and of an increase in pests and parasites.

    While it's impossible to prove conclusively that the changes are the result of global warming, the evidence is so strong and other supportable explanations are lacking, said Chris Thomas, a professor of conservation biology at the University of York in England, so it is "statistically virtually impossible that these are just chance observations."

    (Agencies)