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Arctic's tropical past uncovered
(BBC NEWS, 31 May 2006)
Fifty-five million years ago the North Pole was an ice-free zone with tropical temperatures, according to research. . . . A sediment core excavated from 400m (1,300ft) below the seabed of the Arctic Ocean has enabled scientists to delve far back into the region's past. . . . An international team has been able to pin-point the changes that occurred as the Arctic transformed from green house to ice house. . . . in 2004, the Arctic Coring Expedition (Acex) used ice-breaking ships and a floating drilling rig to remove 400m-long cylinders of sediment from the bottom of the ocean floor. The cores were taken from the 1,500km (930 mile) long Lomonosov Ridge, which stretches between Siberia and Greenland. . . . The bottom end of the cylinder helped scientists to uncover what had happened to the Arctic during a dramatic global event known as the Palaeocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum, which occurred about 55 million years ago. . . . "This time period is associated with a very enhanced green house effect," explained Appy Sluijs, a palaeoecologist from Utrecht University in the Netherlands, and the lead author on one of the papers. . . . "Basically, it looks like the Earth released a gigantic fart of green house gases into the atmosphere - and globally the Earth warmed by about 5C (41F). . . . The core revealed that before 55 million years ago, the surface waters of the Arctic Ocean were ice-free and as warm as 18C (64F). . . . But the sudden increase in greenhouse gasses boosted them to a balmy 24C (74F) and the waters suddenly filled with a tropical algae Apectodinium. . . . Although the data tells us how the world changed from one with green house conditions to one with ice house conditions millions of years ago, it may also help scientists to predict what will result from the present changes in climate. . . . Appy Sluijs points out that the data reveals that some of the climate models used to detail the Arctic's history got things wrong, and as they are the same models that predict our future climate they may need adjusting. . . . "Today's warming of the Arctic can, in all likelihood, be attributed to mankind's impact on the planet, but as our data suggest, natural processes operating in the past have also resulted in a significant warming and cooling of the Arctic."

posted by LoZo 3:40 PM

 

Polar bear and hippopotamus beging slide to extinction
(BBC NEWS, 1 May 2006)
The polar bear and hippopotamus are for the first time listed as species threatened with extinction by the world's biodiversity agency. . . . They are included in the Red List of Threatened Species published by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) which names more than 16,000 at-risk species. . . . Many sharks, and freshwater fish in Europe and Africa, are newly included.. . . The IUCN says loss of biodiversity is increasing despite a global convention committing governments to stem it. . . . "The implications of this trend for the productivity and resilience of ecosystems and the lives and livelihoods of billions of people who depend on them are far-reaching." . . . Overall, 16,119 species are included in this year's Red List, the most detailed and authoritative regular survey of the health of the plant, fungi and animal kingdoms. . . . This represents more than a third of the total number of species surveyed; the list includes one in three amphibians, a quarter of coniferous trees, and one in four mammals. . . . "The more species we assess, the more threatened species we find," . . . Polar bears are listed as Vulnerable to Extinction based on forecasts that their population will decline by 50% to 100% over the next 50 to 100 years. . . . In the tropics, the common hippopotamus has entered the Red List for the first time because the population in the Democratic Republic of Congo has declined spectacularly - by about 95% in a decade. . . . The country's turbulent political situation has allowed unregulated hunting for meat and for the ivory in their teeth. . . . "Regional conflicts and political instability in some African countries have created hardship for many of the region's inhabitants, and the impact on wildlife has been equally devastating," said IUCN chief scientist Jeffrey McNeely. . . . Some of these are fish which were once common on dinner plates in the UK and surrounding countries. The angel shark has been declared Extinct in the North Sea and Critically Endangered globally, while the common skate's status has also been upgraded to Critically Endangered. . . . The IUCN says that with fisheries extending into ever deeper zones of the ocean which are largely unregulated, populations of many species are set to decline sharply. . . . "The desperate situation of many sharks and rays is just the tip of the iceberg," said Craig Hilton-Taylor of the IUCN Red List Unit.

posted by LoZo 4:56 AM