Study: How Climate Change Threatens Mountaintops (and Clean Water)
Mountains are far more than rocks. They also confer various natural benefits—for example, about half of the world’s drinking water filters through their high-elevation forests, plants, and soils.
Now, a new first-of-its kind study, in the journal Nature, shows how these mountain ecosystems around the globe may be threatened by climate change.
Rising temperatures over the next decades appear likely to “decouple” key nutrient cycles in mountain soils and plants, an international team of sixteen scientists reports. Their study suggests that this is expected to disrupt the function of mountaintop ecosystems, as plant communities above and at treeline are thrown into turmoil faster than trees can migrate uphill in a warmer world.
For a new study in the journal Nature, tams of scientists worked at high elevations in seven mountain regions of the world, from the Swiss Alps to New Zealand to Chile. Those sites are shown in this photo montage that highlights the differing types of treelines the teams explored.
Global Study
The new study overcame a problem researchers have wrestled with for years: that the effects of climate change occur over a much longer time than the duration of traditional scientific experiments. And “most experiments are not well suited to study responses of large, long-lived plants such as trees,” notes Jordan Mayor, a postdoctoral researcher who, with ecologist David Wardle, led the new study from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
Instead of greenhouse-style experiments, with artificial warming chambers to heat up plots of soil, the team used elevation as a surrogate for climate warming. The scientists determined that—in seven temperate mountain regions around the world—about 900 feet of elevation drop yields the same average temperatures that the higher spot is expected to experience in eighty years.
“This approach allows prediction of effects of warming in real mountain ecosystems without the problems that plague experiments,” Mayor says.
Nutrient Imbalance
The complex interaction of soils, plants and trees at treeline — in many mountain ranges around the world — may be disrupted by ongoing climate change, a new study in Nature shows.
Credit: Jordan Mayor
“All the climate models assume that plants can just march up the mountains as it gets warmer,” says UVM’s Classen. “But this study shows that march might not be so easy.”
“Lots of experiments have now shown that climate warming can have really important effects on ecosystems in the short term and under controlled conditions,” says David Wardle. “Our results serve as a distributed ‘natural experiment’ to add to this knowledge by showing that climate warming is likely to have large, long-term effects in natural ecosystems, that these effects are pervasive and probably irreversible.”
“This study looks at mountains to show how ecological linkages can become unlinked with climate warming,” says UVM’s Nathan Sanders, “and shows that it’s a global phenomena.”
Contacts and sources:
Citation: Elevation alters ecosystem properties across temperate treelines globally Jordan R. Mayor, Nathan J. Sanders, Aimée T. Classen, Richard D. Bardgett, Jean-Christophe Clément, Alex Fajardo, Sandra Lavorel, Maja K. Sundqvist, Michael Bahn, Chelsea Chisholm, Ellen Cieraad, Ze’ev Gedalof, Karl Grigulis, Gaku Kudo, Daniel L. Oberski & David A. Wardle
Source: http://www.ineffableisland.com/2017/01/study-how-climate-change-threatens.html
Anyone can join.
Anyone can contribute.
Anyone can become informed about their world.
"United We Stand" Click Here To Create Your Personal Citizen Journalist Account Today, Be Sure To Invite Your Friends.
Please Help Support BeforeitsNews by trying our Natural Health Products below!
Order by Phone at 888-809-8385 or online at https://mitocopper.com M - F 9am to 5pm EST
Order by Phone at 866-388-7003 or online at https://www.herbanomic.com M - F 9am to 5pm EST
Order by Phone at 866-388-7003 or online at https://www.herbanomics.com M - F 9am to 5pm EST
Humic & Fulvic Trace Minerals Complex - Nature's most important supplement! Vivid Dreams again!
HNEX HydroNano EXtracellular Water - Improve immune system health and reduce inflammation.
Ultimate Clinical Potency Curcumin - Natural pain relief, reduce inflammation and so much more.
MitoCopper - Bioavailable Copper destroys pathogens and gives you more energy. (See Blood Video)
Oxy Powder - Natural Colon Cleanser! Cleans out toxic buildup with oxygen!
Nascent Iodine - Promotes detoxification, mental focus and thyroid health.
Smart Meter Cover - Reduces Smart Meter radiation by 96%! (See Video).