| Users Online Now: 2,072 (Who's On?) | Visitors Today: 1,004,753 | |
| Pageviews Today: 1,868,871 | Threads Today: 905 | Posts Today: 16,298 |
| 08:36 PM | ||
| Users Online Now: 2,072 (Who's On?) | Visitors Today: 1,004,753 | |
| Pageviews Today: 1,868,871 | Threads Today: 905 | Posts Today: 16,298 |
| 08:36 PM | ||
In Antarctic dry valleys, early signs of climate change-induced shifts in soil | |
| <<TIMEWATCHER>>
Offer Upgrade  User ID: 75155984  United States01/07/2018 02:56 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | In a study spanning two decades, a team of researchers led by Colorado State University found declining numbers of soil fauna, nematodes and other animal species in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, one of the world's driest and coldest deserts. This discovery is attributed to climate change, which has triggered melting and thawing of ice in this desert since an uncharacteristically warm weather event in 2001. There are no plants, birds or mammals in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, located in the largest region of the Antarctic continent. But microbes and microscopic soil invertebrates live in the harsh ecosystem, where the mean average temperature is below -15 degrees Celsius, or 5 degrees Fahrenheit. The findings offer insight and an alarm bell on how ecosystems respond to climate change and to unusual climate events, scientists said. "Until 2001, the region was not experiencing a warming trend," said Walter Andriuzzi, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biology and School of Global Environmental Sustainability. "On the contrary, it was getting colder," he continued. "But in 2001, the cooling trend stopped abruptly with an extremely warm weather event. Since then, the average temperatures are either stable or are increasing slightly. But most importantly, there have been more frequent intense weather events." The research team sampled soil invertebrates and measured soil properties, including water content, in three hydrological basins and at three different elevations in the region. In Taylor Valley, the field study was launched in 1993; in Miers and Garwood valleys, scientists started their work in 2011. Andriuzzi said what the team found in this long-term study cannot be observed by looking at average or monthly temperatures. "It's a few hours, or days of unusually warm weather," he said. "There are even peaks of high solar radiation that trigger ice thawing without high temperatures. That's how climate change is happening there, and it's already starting to impact the biological community there." Read more at: [link to phys.org (secure)]  GLP Disclaimer DON'T BELIEVE A DAMN WORD YOU READ ON THIS WEBSITE! The reader is responsible for discerning the validity, factuality or implications of information posted here, be it fictional or based on real events. Moderators on this forum make every effort to review the material posted on this site however, it is not realistically possible for our small staff to manually review each and every one of the more than 20,000 posts GodlikeProductions gets on a daily basis. The content of posts on this site, including but not limited to links to other web sites, are the expressed opinion of the original poster and are in no way representative of or endorsed by the owners or administration of this website. The posts on this website are the opinion of the specific author and are not statements of advice, opinion, or factual information on behalf of the owner or administration of GodlikeProductions. This site may contain adult language, if you feel you might be offended by such content, you should log off immediately. Not all posts on this website are intended as truthful or factual assertion by their authors. Some users of this website are participating in internet role playing, with or without the use of an avatar. NO post on this website should be considered factual information on face value alone. "If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen."- Samuel Adams "...It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.." --Samuel Adams A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. --John F. Kennedy The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission. --John F. Kennedy Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind. --John F. Kennedy All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. --Albert Einstein |
