[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help] 

Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

“The government wants to make sure that that does not come out. A huge part of our political system is predicated on blackmail,”

You Know What Happens Next

Cash Jordan: Half-Built Tower Abandoned… as ICE Deports Entire ‘Migrant Workforce’

Heavy rainfall causes flash flooding Tuesday night, some cars stuck in high water on Chicago's West

Biden Doctor PLEADS THE FIFTH, Refuses To Testify To Congress, Biden Pardons ARE VOID

Joe Rogan says FBI director Kash Patel played him for a fool and maga for fools with the Jeff Epstein files

Elon's AI System "Grok" Went Rogue And Has Been SHUT DOWN in an Emergency!

Earthquake Swarms at One of the MOST DANGEROUS Volcanoes in the USA

Ben Shapiro Declares Epstein Case CLOSED: ‘Facts on the Ground Have Changed’

Iran receives 40 Chinese J10-C Fighter Jets

China’s Railgun Is Now Battle-Ready, Thanks to Nuclear Power

Chinese Hypersonic Advancements! Deadly new missile could decimate entire US fleet in 20 minutes

Iran Confirms Massive Chinese HQ 9 B Missile Deal

Why Is Europe Hitting 114°F And Still Rising?

The INCREDIBLE Impacts of Methylene Blue

The LARGEST Eruptions since the Merapi Disaster in 2010 at Lewotobi Laki Laki in Indonesia

Feds ARREST 11 Leftists For AMBUSH On ICE, 2 Cops Shot, Organized Terror Cell Targeted ICE In Texas

What is quantum computing?

12 Important Questions We Should Be Asking About The Cover Up The Truth About Jeffrey Epstein

TSA quietly scraps security check that every passenger dreads

Iran Receives Emergency Airlift of Chinese Air Defence Systems as Israel Considers New Attacks

Russia reportedly used its new, inexpensive Chernika kamikaze drone in the Ukraine

Iran's President Says the US Pledged Israel Wouldn't Attack During Previous Nuclear Negotiations

Will Japan's Rice Price Shock Lead To Government Collapse And Spark A Global Bond Crisis

Beware The 'Omniwar': Catherine Austin Fitts Fears 'Weaponization Of Everything'

Roger Stone: AG Pam Bondi Must Answer For 14 Terabytes Claim Of Child Torture Videos!

'Hit Us, Please' - America's Left Issues A 'Broken Arrow' Signal To Europe

Cash Jordan Trump Deports ‘Thousands of Migrants’ to Africa… on Purpose

Gunman Ambushes Border Patrol Agents In Texas Amid Anti-ICE Rhetoric From Democrats

Texas Flood


Science/Tech
See other Science/Tech Articles

Title: Widespread Arctic Wildlife Changes Seen with Global Warming
Source: VOANews
URL Source: http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-09-11-voa1.cfm
Published: Sep 11, 2009
Author: Jessica Berman
Post Date: 2009-09-12 16:01:09 by buckeroo
Keywords: None
Views: 748
Comments: 47

Scientists carying out studies of wildlife in the Arctic say global warming is causing dramatic changes in animal and plant life, threatening some species with extinction.

The report is a compilation of studies of Arctic eco-systems by an international team of scientists who have been collaborating during the fourth International Polar Year,which ended in 2008.

Eric Post, a professor of biology at Penn State University and leader of the study team, says previous research has focused on the non-living or abiotic effects of global warming on the Arctic, including the melting of sea ice and subsequent rises in seawater levels. But Post says this is the first comprehensive report investigating the sweeping impacts of climate change on eco-systems and living creatures in the north polar region, including:

"Fresh water systems, terrestrial systems, resident species, migratory species, birds, mammals, plants, pretty much everything. It seems like wherever you look in the Arctic right now, things are changing quite rapidly," he said.

For example, Post says, the researchers found that red foxes and other species that thrived in the Arctic's southern ranges are moving north toward cooler, more hospitable climates. They are displacing Arctic foxes in competition for food. Other species migrating northward include winter moths that are defoliating mountain birch forests.

Another biological consequence of climate change in the Arctic, according to Post, is that the plant growing season is starting earlier than it did a decade ago. "And that might sound like a benefit because it's getting warmer and greener earlier. But there are species that migrate based on light cues and are expecting to arrive on their breeding grounds in the Arctic to take advantage of resources associated with start of the growing season. But they are arriving too late now and are suffering consequences for reproduction and survival of offspring," he said.

Species endangered by this earlier growing season include migratory caribou, common in the low Arctic landscape of Greenland. Increasing numbers of females there are unable to consume enough food to sustain pregnancies.

Researchers did find species that benefitted from the warming temperatures, including non-migratory wild reindeer on the Norwegian archipelago. These animals take advantage of the melting snow and longer growing seasons. Scientists say reindeer populations have increased because there's more food for them to eat.

The report notes that over the past 150 years, the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has caused temperatures to warm an average of one-degree Celsius. That has resulted in a progressive loss of the Arctic's seasonal sea ice cover, at the rate of 45,000 square kilometers per year.

Species that are hardest hit by the shrinking ice are polar bears, seals and walruses, all of which have experienced reductions in their populations.

With temperatures expected to rise another six degrees Celsius by the end of the century, Post says polar bears, which now number between 20,000 and 25,000, face possible extinction. "Maybe within our lifetimes or the lifetime of our children, it seems like sea ice loss is happening so quickly that polar bear populations will become increasingly fragmented still. So, I think they are the ones that are at risk for extinction in the near future," he said.

Post says there are still many unanswered questions about the effects of climate change in the frozen region, such as why some eco-systems are thriving while other are on the brink of collapse.

Researchers hope future studies of Arctic biology will answer those questions. Their new report is published in this week's Science magazine.


Poster Comment:

"The report notes that over the past 150 years, the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has caused temperatures to warm an average of one-degree Celsius. That has resulted in a progressive loss of the Arctic's seasonal sea ice cover, at the rate of 45,000 square kilometers per year."
The issue about global warming is REAL. Some folks have dismissed the REAL issue entirely because of political flap-jaws, such as Al Gore.

Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 11.

#1. To: buckeroo, *Agriculture-Environment* (#0)

The issue about global warming is REAL. Some folks have dismissed the REAL issue entirely because of political flap-jaws, such as Al Gore.

No. People have dismissed it because the science doesn't back it up. The variations we have seen in climate are natural and constantly changing.

This doom and gloom has got to go. We didn't even reach the level of medieval warm period and "nature" seemed to survive that just fine. We are already starting to cool. Couple that with the fact that despite the recent increases, CO2 is at historic lows for the planet.

This is a manufactured crisis benefiting no one but the global elites.

farmfriend  posted on  2009-09-12   16:11:21 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#2. To: farmfriend (#1)

I feel the heat rising already. Still, the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere is rising.

As a recommendation and for the future, don't buy coats .... buy bikinis to cool off! :)

buckeroo  posted on  2009-09-12   16:19:45 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#3. To: buckeroo (#2)

Still, the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere is rising.

Even if that were true, which it isn't, so what? As I said, we have not reached the same heat as the medieval warm period. BTW, that is also called climate optimum. Why is that? What about the Roman warm period? Warming has not been bad for this planet in the past, why should it be bad now?

farmfriend  posted on  2009-09-12   16:28:22 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#4. To: farmfriend (#3)

Heat is bad. It is bad, bad, bad to all life and certainly humans. We live in a small bandwidth of comfort and capability to survive based upon the natural envelope given to us. The influence of modern technologies and resulting convolution about the natural environment around us, needs serious considerations ... not cheap dismissals.

Show me where the Earth is actually cooling.

buckeroo  posted on  2009-09-12   16:35:01 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#5. To: buckeroo (#4)

I've sent you an email. You need to get some better science. For someone who understands issues surrounding government propaganda you seem blind in this area.

farmfriend  posted on  2009-09-12   16:41:14 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#6. To: farmfriend (#5)

I've sent you an email. You need to get some better science. For someone who understands issues surrounding government propaganda you seem blind in this area.

I suspect that you don't like my comments all of a sudden. Are you attempting to bitch-slap me based upon my free and confident scientific standing certainly concerned with CO2 emissions causing spindly plants reducing the food supply?

buckeroo  posted on  2009-09-12   16:47:44 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#7. To: buckeroo, vitamin Z, *Agriculture-Environment* (#6)

Climate and the Carboniferous Period

Similarities with our Present World

Average global temperatures in the Early Carboniferous Period were hot- approximately 20° C (68° F). However, cooling during the Middle Carboniferous reduced average global temperatures to about 12° C (54° F). As shown on the chart below, this is comparable to the average global temperature on Earth today!

Similarly, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Early Carboniferous Period were approximately 1500 ppm (parts per million), but by the Middle Carboniferous had declined to about 350 ppm -- comparable to average CO2 concentrations today!

farmfriend  posted on  2009-09-12   16:57:05 ET  (1 image) Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#8. To: farmfriend (#7)

Are you arguing that CO2 emissions make you healthy?

buckeroo  posted on  2009-09-12   17:02:59 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#9. To: buckeroo (#8) (Edited)

Are you arguing that CO2 emissions make you healthy?

If you want to put it that way, yes. That's why we keep CO2 at higher levels in subs. People evolved at higher CO2 concentrations and thus really do better. The environment does better as well.

Man only puts out about 3% CO2. The oceans are the big CO2 source. No amount of international regulation is going to change that.

farmfriend  posted on  2009-09-12   17:04:43 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#11. To: farmfriend, buckeroo (#9)

That's why we keep CO2 at higher levels in subs. People evolved at higher CO2 concentrations and thus really do better.

Wrong, and wrong. In terms of CO2 being healthy, if you're a plant that's true, as plants require CO2 for their celluar functions. We however require oxygen, not CO2. They don't ADD CO2 on subs, they use scrubbers to REMOVE it. High CO2 levels would mean the sub would have to surface as people would start keeling over otherwise.

The oceans are the big CO2 source.

That is misleading. Althought SOME parts of the world's oceans release CO2 (as in the tropics), MOST of the oceans ABSORB CO2. It's a cycle that keeps everything in balance, where the ocean aborbs larger amounts of CO2 than it releases, thus absorbing excess CO2 from the rest of the environment.

FormerLurker  posted on  2009-09-12   17:35:00 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


Replies to Comment # 11.

#12. To: FormerLurker, buckeroo (#11)

CO2 Capture from Air – Current Practices

Jason J. Heinrich
June 2003
MIT LFEE 2003-001 WP

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Laboratory for Energy and the Environment
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 http://lfee.mit.edu/publications/ Publication No. LFEE 2003-001 WP

INTRODUCTION
People generate carbon dioxide at a rate of about 1 kg/person/day (2.2 lbs/person/day). In confined spaces, this can lead to elevated levels of CO2. These CO2 concentrations above normal levels do not necessarily produce harmful working conditions. OSHA guidelines allow workers to operate in a CO2 air contaminant limit of 5,000 ppm1 for more than 8 hours. Submarines often operate at levels close to 7,000 ppm and have even recorded levels of 30,000 ppm (Honeywell 1989). The air revitalization system on the first international space station, Freedom, was designed to maintain CO2 levels of 2000 ppm or less, while life support systems designed for space suits maintain CO2 levels at or below 5000 ppm.

Despite a human being’s relative tolerance to elevated CO2 levels, travel outside the breathable atmosphere, whether into space or to the bottom of the sea, requires living inside an enclosed airtight system in which carbon dioxide exhaled by the individual must be replaced by a fresh supply of breathable air. For nearly a century, researchers have been developing and testing new systems and technologies designed to remove harmful contaminants from the air and regenerate life-giving oxygen. These critical technologies have enabled humans to fly farther, dive deeper and live longer in places and conditions that do not normally support human life. This paper intends to provide a general overview of the current methods being employed to enable respiration under such circumstances.

farmfriend  posted on  2009-09-12 18:25:04 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#16. To: FormerLurker, farmfriend (#11)

The oceans are the big CO2 source.

That is misleading.

That is not misleading. It is yet another lie of farmfriend in order to keep her fight going against anyone who knows that her posting graphs and stuff is just a cover for her lack of understanding of science.

Clitora  posted on  2009-09-12 18:57:23 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


End Trace Mode for Comment # 11.

TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest


[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help]