Final answer:
Urbanization can lead to the irreversible replacement of natural habitats and a reduction in biodiversity, as well as contribute to climate change and its associated environmental challenges.
Step-by-step explanation:
Urbanization can have significant impacts on the world’s biospheres. One of the primary impacts is the irreversible replacement of natural habitats with artificial ones, leading to long-term impacts on native species. This habitat destruction results in a reduction in biodiversity and can alter ecosystem functions. A second major impact is related to climate change caused by increased greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels in urban areas. This can lead to changing weather patterns, which may result in the need to continually reconstruct water-handling and food-producing infrastructure, negatively affecting river ecosystems and potentially increasing the construction of infrastructure in untouched areas like the Arctic.