World's Protected Areas Threatened By Climate Change, New Study Shows
Climate change will affect national parks, forest reserves and other protected areas around the world, in some cases altering conditions so severely that the resulting environments will be virtually new to the planet, according to a study presented at the U.N. climate change talks in Bali, Indonesia.
Scientists from Conservation International (CI), the University of Wisconsin and the University of Maryland analyzed the World Protected Areas Database with ten Global Climate Models and three different scenarios examined by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
They found that under the most likely scenario, more than half the world's protected territory is vulnerable to impacts of climate change, with some regions facing the disappearance of current climatic conditions by 2100 or a transition to conditions not found on Earth in the previous century.
"We previously assumed that if the land is protected, then the plants and animals living there will persist," said Sandy Andelman, lead author of the study and CI's vice president who heads the Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring (TEAM) network. "That may be wishful thinking."
Countries where 90 percent or more of the total protected territory has climate conditions that will disappear globally or be transformed to novel climates are Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Ivory Coast, Mexico, Niger, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Togo, Uganda and Venezuela.
With millions of people living in the most seriously affected countries, maintaining the health of protected areas and the biological diversity they contain is crucial to the availability of fresh water, food, medicines and other life-sustaining benefits of nature.
However, the study indicates that climate change will cause increased extinctions of species unable to adapt to altered climatic conditions, and substantial changes to the natural ecosystems.
"We urgently need to better understand how climate change will affect life on Earth so we can develop solutions, and to do that we need consistent data about long-term trends at a very large scale," Andelman said.
Her TEAM network, established through CI funding, monitors such long-term trends in the biological diversity of tropical forests. A network of tropical field stations using standardized methods of data collection allows scientists anywhere on Earth to quantify how tropical nature is responding to climate change and human impacts. The first five TEAM sites operate in tropical forests across Latin America, with the program expanding to Africa and Asia by the end of 2008 and plans for 20 sites on three continents by the end of 2009.
The study also identified "refuge" countries where protected areas face minimal risk from climate change, including Botswana, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone and Somalia. Ensuring the adequate protection of nature reserves in these countries will provide baseline information to help understand the dynamics of biological diversity relatively unaffected by climate change.
Along with Andelman, the paper's authors are Jan Dempewolf of the University of Maryland, Jack Williams of the University of Wisconsin, and two members of CI's Center for Applied Biodiversity Science -- Jenny Hewson, a remote sensing specialist, and Erica Ashkenazi, a GIS specialist.
Adapted from materials provided by Conservation International.
Common Garden Plant Threatened By Climate Change
Cyclamen, a common, pretty garden flower, is at risk of extinction because of climate change.
In a study published in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology, researchers show, using mathematical modelling, that the ideal climate for Cyclamen will become increasingly rare and might have totally disappeared by the 2050's. Some species of Cyclamen are adaptable enough and could survive climate change, but many would probably disappear.
Chris Yesson and Alastair Culham, from the University of Reading in the UK built mathematical models based on the current distribution of the 21 different species of Cyclamen, in order to predict the impact of climate change on Cyclamen within the next 50 years.
Yesson and Culham identified distinct climatic niches -- geographic areas with the ideal climate -- for different species of Cyclamen. Most Cyclamen species thrive in a typical Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters, but many are found in areas with much harsher climatic conditions. Yesson and Culham show that climatic niches are likely to decrease for all species of Cyclamen, and by more than 60% for most species.
Yesson and Culham conclude: "Many of these species are considered to be at high risk of extinction due to climate change."
Adapted from materials provided by BioMed Central.
Man May Have Caused Pre-historic Extinctions
New research shows that pre-historic horses in Alaska may have been hunted into extinction by man, rather than by climate change as previously thought.
The discovery by Andrew Solow of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, US, David Roberts of the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew and Karen Robbirt of the University of East Anglia (UEA) is published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
The accepted view had previously been that the wild horses became extinct long before the extinction of mammoths and the arrival of humans from Asia - ruling out the possibility that they were over-hunted by man. One theory had been that a period of climate cooling wiped them out.
However, the researchers have discovered that uncertainties in dating fossil remains and the incompleteness of fossil records mean that the survival of the horse beyond the arrival of humans cannot be ruled out.
The PNAS paper develops a new statistical method to help resolve the inherent problems associated with dating fossils from the Pleistocene period. The aim is to provide a far more accurate timetable for the extinction of caballoid horses and mammoths and, ultimately, the cause.
"This research is exciting because it throws open the debate as to whether climate change or over-hunting may have led to the extinction of pre-historic horses in North America," said UEA's Karen Robbirt.
The Pleistocene period refers to the first epoch of the Quarternary period between 1.64 million and 10,000 years ago. It was characterised by extensive glaciation of the northern hemisphere and the evolution of modern man around 100,000 years ago.
It is known that the end of the Pleistocene period was a time of large-scale extinctions of animals and plants in North America and elsewhere but the factors responsible have remained open to question, with climate change and over-hunting by humans the prime suspects.
Adapted from materials provided by University of East Anglia.
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BERLIN, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- A study released by the German government says children living near nuclear power stations are more likely to suffer leukemia.
Our study confirmed that in Germany a connection has been observed between the distance of a domicile to the nearest nuclear power plant and the risk of developing cancer, such as leukemia, before the fifth birthday," the daily Suddeutsche Zeitung quoted the report as saying.
Government radiation specialists said the findings cannot be explained since there is no radiation leaking from the 16 German plants, which are all scheduled for closure in about 2020.
The study was paid for by the German Federal Radiation Protection Agency, which is the government's main adviser on nuclear health, and conducted by the German Register of Child Cancer.
The study showed that 37 children near the plants had developed leukemia in the period between 1980 and 2003 while the statistical average for Germany predicted just 17 cases in that group.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
Greenpeace vows to fight BP on 'tar sands'
LONDON, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Greenpeace said it would take action against Britain's BP PLC for agreeing to extract Canadian oil using a method that can quadruple global-warming gases.
The Washington environmental-activist group said BP's $3.1 billion deal with Calgary, Alberta's Husky Energy Inc. to extract crude oil from tar sands amounted to the "biggest global warming crime" in history.
Tar sands -- a heavy mixture of bitumen, water, sand and clay -- lay beneath more than 54,000 square miles of northern Alberta forest.
BP and Husky said the planned facility will able to produce 200,000 barrels of crude a day by 2020.
Producing heavy tar-sand oil generates up to four times more carbon dioxide, the principal global-warming gas, than conventional drilling, The Independent reported.
In contrast to conventional crude-oil drilling, tar sand deposits must be strip-mined or made to flow into producing wells using steam or solvents to reduce the heavy oil's thickness.
These processes use a great deal of water and require large amounts of energy.
A BP spokesman told the British newspaper it planned to use an extraction method that was environmentally sensitive, but would still increase its carbon footprint.
"These are resources that would have been developed anyway,"the spokesman said.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
How Chikungunya Virus Has Spread To New Vectors And Locations
Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch have discovered how a key protein switch allows Chikungunya Virus (CHIKV) to spread to new vectors. The study explains how the virus has increased its ability to infect and be transmitted by the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus.
CHIKV is an emerging arbovirus associated with several recent large-scale epidemics of arthritic disease. The virus has formerly been known to be carried primarily by the mosquito Aedes aegypti. However, a recent epidemic in the Indian Ocean islands suggested that something else was carrying the virus, as Ae. aegypti are not found there. In fact the relative Asian tiger mosquito, Ae. albopictus, was present. This prompted the team, led by Dr. Stephen Higgs, to look further into the virus.
In an earlier study it had been found that the epidemics on islands in the Indian Ocean were associated with a strain of CHIKV with a mutation in the envelope protein gene (E1-A226V). Therefore, the researchers investigated the role of the E1-A226V mutation on the fitness of CHIKV in both types of mosquitoes. The team infected mosquitoes with two genetically-engineered clones of the virus, one with the mutation and the other without.
The team found the mutant virus out-competed the other virus with respect to transmission by the tiger mosquito. This proved that EI-A226V is directly responsible for CHIKV adaptation to the Asian tiger mosquito, explaining why the virus was found in an area which lacks the typical vector mosquito.
The Asian tiger mosquito is present in many countries. Both mosquito species are currently present in the U.S. and the Asian tiger mosquito is spreading in Europe. The findings suggest that, especially with the global climate warming, CHIKV could expand to new geographic locations.
Journal citation: Tsetsarkin KA, Vanlandingham DL, McGee CE, Higgs S (2007) A single mutation in Chikungunya virus affects vector specificity and epidemic potential. PLoS Pathog 3(12): e201. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.0030201
Adapted from materials provided by Public Library of Science.
Melting Ice Displaces Walruses In The Russian Arctic
Some 40,000 walruses have appeared on the Russian Arctic coast, a phenomenon that scientists believe is a result of global warming melting Arctic sea ice.
According to WWF, this is the largest walrus haul out — areas where walruses rest when they are out of the water — registered in the Russian Arctic.
The area is currently being protected by the local community through the WWF-supported Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North. But more permanent protection, like a nature reserve, is needed to prevent walrus poaching and other threats to these large marine mammals.
“Because of climate change, ice is disappearing from the Chukchi and East Siberian seas during the summer months,” says Viktor Nikiforov, Director of WWF-Russia’s Regional Programmes.
“This means that in the coming years new haul outs will appear along the Chukotka Arctic coast.”
Walruses need thick sea ice to support their weight and the shallow waters of the coastal zone to feed. Unlike seals, they cannot swim indefinitely and must pause after foraging. As the warming climate in the Arctic reduces the thickness and expanse of the ice, it also reduces the walrus’ habitat.
“A nature reserve must be created to protect them,” urges Nikiforov. “Our common goal is to help walruses survive during this difficult time.”
Evidence points to a clear trend towards an overall warming in the Arctic. As a result, the sea ice thickness has been reduced by 40 percent in the last 30 years. Some models suggest that by 2080, or possibly earlier, arctic sea ice will completely disappear during the summer months.
There are two sub-species of the species: the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens), found around Alaska and northeast Russia; and the Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus), found in the Canadian Arctic, in the waters of Greenland, Svalbard and the western portion of the Russian Arctic.
Adapted from materials provided by World Wildlife Fund.
Walrus Calves Stranded By Melting Sea Ice
Scientists have reported an unprecedented number of unaccompanied and possibly abandoned walrus calves in the Arctic Ocean, where melting sea ice may be forcing mothers to abandon their pups as the mothers follow the rapidly retreating ice edge north.
Nine lone walrus calves were reported swimming in deep waters far from shore by researchers aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy during a cruise in the Canada Basin in the summer of 2004. Unable to forage for themselves, the calves were likely to drown or starve, the scientists said.
Lone walrus calves far from shore have not been described before, the researchers report in the April issue of Aquatic Mammals. The sightings suggest that increased polar warming may lead to decreases in the walrus population.
“We were on a station for 24 hours, and the calves would be swimming around us crying. We couldn’t rescue them,” said Carin Ashjian, a biologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and a member of the research team.
The researchers found evidence of warmer ocean temperatures that may have rapidly melted seasonal sea ice over the shallow continental shelf where walruses dive to feed on bottom-dwelling animals such as clams and crabs. Walrus need the ice to rest themselves and to leave the pups to rest while the mothers feed. Ice remained over very deep water.
“If walruses and other ice-associated marine mammals cannot adapt to caring for their young in shallow waters without sea-ice available as a resting platform between dives to the sea floor, a significant population decline of this species could occur,” the research team wrote. The lead author of the study is Lee W. Cooper, a biogeochemist at the University of Tennessee.
Cooper, Ashjian and other researchers made the unexpected walrus calf sightings during a cruise to investigate the impact of global climate change on the oceanic ecosystem over the continental shelf of Alaska. Their work focused on the shallower waters of the continental shelf in the Chukchi Sea to deeper waters in the Beaufort Sea of the Western Arctic Ocean. The project was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research.
Adult Pacific walrus, Odobenus rosmarus divergens, forage for food by diving as far as 200 meters about (630 feet) down to the seafloor and using sensitive facial bristles to locate prey. Sea ice normally forms over the continental shelf north of Alaska and persists even in summer. Adult walrus use the sea ice as a resting platform; mothers leave the calves there and dive to the bottom for food.
“The young can’t forage for themselves,” Ashjian said. “They don’t know how to eat,” and are dependent on their mothers’ milk for up to two years.
The researchers measured a mass of water as warm as 44°F (7°C) moving onto parts of the shelf from the Bering Sea to the south in 2004. This warm-water intrusion was more than six degrees higher than temperatures at the same time and location in 2002. The warmer water apparently caused seasonal sea ice to melt rapidly over the shallow continental shelf and retreat to deep water over the Arctic Ocean basins, where the water remained colder.
In the areas where ice remained, the bottom is up to 3,000 meters (about 9,300 feet) deep, too deep for even adult walrus to dive to feed. When sea ice retreats to such deep water, as it did in 2004, there are no platforms in shallow waters for mothers to rest and to leave their calves while they feed, and the pairs become separated.
Scientists on the Healy used geographic positioning, digital photography, ship bridge logs, and other observations to record the calves’ positions and bathymetric charts and depth sounder data to identify water depth. They documented the very warm water using both conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) profile sampling and plankton-net sampling, which revealed zooplankton species that prefer warmer waters.
In addition to Copper and Ashjian, other researchers participating in the study were Sharon L. Smith of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Miami; Louis A. Codispoti of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science; Jaqueline M. Grebmeier of the University of Tennessee; Robert G. Campbell of the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography; and Evelyn B. Sherr of the College of Oceanographic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University.
Adapted from materials provided by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
