Small temperature changes, big effects on life
(NSF)
A small change in temperature can have a big effect on the communities living at the bottom of the Earth, in Antarctica.
That’s according to Diana Wall, Professor of Biology and researcher at the Natural Resource Ecology Lab at Colorado State University. Wall told Earth & Sky that key penguin species, for example, are vulnerable to temperature change.
Diana Wall: You increase the temperature a small degree, and all of a sudden their life history, how they’re going to live, how they’re going to reproduce, how they’re going to be active with this different temperature, has been changed. And that would be very much the same sort of thing as if you said, we have giraffes in Africa, and guess, what, we’re making it a highway.
Temperature change causes ecosystem change. A study by the National Academy of Sciences found that the extent of sea ice, which harbors food for Adelie penguins, has decreased in eastern Antarctica. That shrinking food supply makes it harder for penguins to go to and from their breeding grounds. And that means they reproduce less successfully.
And it’s not just penguins affected by change. Wall also spoke of nematodes – small worms – important for cycling carbon through the Antarctic soils.
Diana Wall: Each one of them, no matter if one’s a bird and one’s a small worm, they’ve adapted to their ecosystem. And so, they’ve evolved these life history strategies to live with the cold, to live with the ice, to live in this barren landscape.
Our thanks today to NASA: explore, discover, understand.
Our thanks to:
Diana H. Wall
Director of the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, Colorado
Additional Teacher Resources
NASA: Seasons of Change: Evidence of Arctic Warming Grows
This article reports on information that NASA is gathering to understand what is happening to our planet ice; as even small changes in ice could mean big impacts on the water cycle and ultimately the global climate. The article includes animations and video.
National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC): Education Center
The Education Center section of the National Snow and Ice Data Center provides information useful to educators on the topics of sea ice, glaciers, snow, climate change, and more.
NASA: Impact of Climate Warming on Polar Ice Sheets Confirmed
In the most comprehensive survey ever undertaken of the massive ice sheets covering both Greenland and Antarctica, NASA scientists confirm climate warming is changing how much water remains locked in Earth largest storehouse of ice and snow.
NOAA: Arctic and Antarctic Activity Book
This activity book designed for young learners contains a wealth of information about life in the arctic and Antarctic. It includes coloring pages with accompanying species text, word searches, connect the dots, and more.
Andrill Project Iceberg: Education and Outreach
Learn how eight educators from the United States, Italy, Germany, and New Zealand are working with the scientists in Antarctica to see how conditions on Earth have changed over millions of years. Teachers and scientists provide video journals and photographs.
