While the Great Barrier Reef has become the ecological poster child of what climate change can do in Australia, other environments are already showing the consequences of rising global temperatures, according to a new paper.
Global temperatures have risen 0.9C since 1884 (the beginning of industrialisation) and all signs say that these temperatures will continue to rise.
Recent papers estimate that there is only a 5% chance we will be able to cap the global temperature at the 2C accepted by the Paris Agreement by the end of the century.
The Great Barrier Reef (which makes up 10% of the world's coral reef ecosystems) is already falling victim to rising ocean temperatures and increased water acidity.
The reef has suffered back-to-back bleaching events in recent years as a result of rising water temperatures, with 30% of the coral lost in 2016 and a further 20% lost in 2017.
So, how else is climate change impacting Australian environments?
A recent paper published in Nature by a team of ecologists and biologists says that climate change is having destructive consequences around the country.
The paper looked at six different environments across our marine, desert, mangrove, and alpine landscapes, and found that these ecologies are already being severely disrupted by our rising temperatures and extreme weather events.
Australia has experienced a 1C rise in average sea, air and land temperatures since 1910.
Our fire seasons have become longer since the 1970s, sea levels have risen, and rainfall patterns have changed (in the southwest rainfall has decreased by 19% and the northern part of the country has become wetter).
While Australian ecosystems are used to enduring extreme events such as fire and rapid temperature change, they are no longer being allowed the time to recover.
Dr Rebecca Harris, climate change and biodiversity researcher from the University of Tasmania and co-author of the study, told BuzzFeed News she believes that these climatic changes could result in "potentially irreversible ecosystem shifts".
The paper describes a 2011 Western Australian marine heatwave that increased the water temperature by 2-5C above 140-year-old averages within the space of 10 weeks.
This heatwave wiped out a 385 square kilometre kelp forest that fed a unique ecosystem of marine animals and allowed tropical seaweed to move in instead, upending an entire environment.
The authors note that while these events may not always result in the immediate endangerment of species, there are cascading consequences that can trigger "ecosystem-wide responses to extreme events".
In 2011, extensive fires that burnt up to 70% of some Strzelecki Desert ranges were blamed on abnormally high rainfall over previous seasons that caused widespread plant growth, giving the fire fuel to travel.
Dr Linda Beaumont, a lecturer in biological sciences from Macquarie University and another author of the paper, told BuzzFeed News that as our average temperature increases, Australia is going to see vast changes to our environment.
"When we ... increase the average temperature, we also alter what happens to the extreme, so higher average temperatures mean vastly more frequent extreme heat events occurring. It's really those extremes that are the problem."
By 2090, the number of severe fire danger days in Queensland and across the east coast are predicted to rise by 160-190%.
The authors suggest that even if we manage to keep the rise in global temperatures to 2C, major climatic events such as heatwaves will continue to have unprecedented effects on our environment.
Harris notes that our current conservation and management techniques may not be enough to battle these changes.
"Of the six case studies, some of them could have perhaps been helped with some management intervention, although equally one of the lessons which is a little bit frightening is that potentially it's a little bit out of our hands."
Beaumont believes that the only way this can be addressed is to act quickly and reduce carbon emissions.
"The faster we can get greenhouse gas emissions down, the lower [the] ultimate increase in temperature. It really is a matter of sooner rather than later."