Global warming

SOME ANIMALS, LIKE people with second homes, travel seasonally in search of more hospitable climes. Scientists have mapped these migratory patterns for years, confirming along the way that they are, in fact, patterns. Some species even pass down migration routes via their genes.

But Migrations in Motion predicts a new kind of migration—one forced by climate change. The new data-visualization project is based on research from The Nature Conservancy and the University of Washington, and depicts how more than 2,900 species of birds, mammals, and amphibians might migrate in response to rising sea levels and temperatures.

It’s mesmerizing, if unsettling, to behold. The interactive map overlays tadpole-like swirls of color atop black maps of the Americas. These color-coded eddies link the various species’ current habitats with where they’ll need to move in response to climate change.