2009Sept10: Invaders “moving northward include the winter moth, which defoliates mountain birch forests, and species of Low Arctic trees and shrubs, which affect the dynamics of trace-gas exchange. The presence of more shrubs and trees promotes deeper snow accumulation, increasing soil temperatures during the winter, and more microbial activity in the soil, which in turn makes the habitats more suitable for shrubs. Increasing the shrub cover may lengthen the period during the plant growing season when the tundra acts as a carbon-dioxide sink. Countering this change, the research reveals, are musk oxen and reindeer, which browse on shrubs, limiting their carbon-soaking capacity and northward expansion to the High Arctic. Grazing, trampling, and defecation by these herbivores promote the growth and spread of grasses, which further attract geese. The geese in turn influence the productivity of lakes, where they rest and graze. The research indicates that complex aquatic and marine food webs like these are extremely vulnerable to alteration due to changes in temperature, precipitation, and nutrient load from the land” (Penn State University, 2009). These findings are from a study led by Eric Post, associate professor of biology at Penn State University.
Reference: Eberly College of Science, Penn State University http://www.science.psu.edu/alert/Post9-2009.htm
Image Description: Adult bull musk-ox grazing in Greenland with retreating glacier in background (2008). Photo by Eric Post, Penn State. Images Location: Eberly College of Science, Penn State University http://www.science.psu.edu/alert/PostPhotos9-2009.htm Image Permission: This work is copyrighted and unlicensed. However, it is believed that the use of this work to illustrate the subject in question, Where no free equivalent is available or could be created that would adequately give the same information, on Interlinked Challenges, hosted on servers in the United States by Michigan State University, qualifies as fair use under United States copyright law.
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This post is tagged 2000s Climate Change Events, 21st Century and Climate Change, Arctic and Climate Change, Biodiversity, Climate Change Effects, Ecosystem Changes, Migration and Climate Change, Polar Regions and Climate Change, Precipitation, Temperatures, Warming Temperatures
