Scientists at the Zackenberg Research Station have been studying plants and animals in Northeast Greenland National Park for the last 20 years, which allowed them to compare this year's breeding season patterns -- which followed record snows -- to those that came before.
Last winter, snow accumulated across much of the Arctic in record amounts. The totals were especially dramatic in northeast Greenland.
"This resulted in the most complete reproductive failure encountered in the terrestrial ecosystem during more than two decades of monitoring," researchers wrote in a new paper, published this week in the journal PLOS Biology.
Scientists have previously observed breeding failure across one or two species, but never across an entire ecosystem, as was witnessed in northeast Greenland. The region is home to dozens of vulnerable species, including musk oxen, polar bears, walrus, Arctic fox, stoat, collared lemming and Arctic hare, as well as a variety of coastal birds.
They'll have to move south, and certainly will.
Oh, just like in the late 1200's and early 1300's, when formerly green Greenland became not-green due to global cooling and the last of the Norse settlers just... disappeared from one supply run to the next.
ReplyDeleteGreenland used to be productive, pre-1300...
History, real history, is so inconvenient to today's 'truth.'
Climate change: Adapt, migrate, or die!
ReplyDelete...but, but, but globull warming!
ReplyDeleteNemo
It's hilarious how global warming can fool you!
ReplyDeleteIn the US southwest we have the cliff dwellings, they were abandoned around 1250-1350. The signs say they don't know why they left... I made my own guess & it had to do with the changing climate.
ReplyDelete