Arctic And Its Species On The Brink Of Extinction

Insync

oi-Staff

By Staff

Friday, September 11, 2009, 15:24

Global warming is fast taking its toll on the world, while many of us are still gasping with the truth, it is found that the great Arctic would soon be a thing of the past, with only textbooks and photographs offering one glimpse of this iceland.

The research led by Eric Post, associate professor of biology at Penn State University studied the biological response of the Arctic warming and their research brought out some scintillating truth.

The scientists found that the increase in mean annual surface temperature in the Arctic over the last 150 years has had dramatic effects, which in the last 20 to 30 years has led to the decline in the sea ice coverage by a staggering 45,000 square kilometers per year.

While the global warming has also affected the snow cover of the region as it is said to be fast melting and breaking away every season. "Species on land and at sea are suffering adverse consequences of human behavior at latitudes thousands of miles away," said Post.

"It seems no matter where you look - on the ground, in the air, or in the water - we're seeing signs of rapid change," he added. The Arctic effect also threatens to bring various iconic species of the region to extinction. Ivory gull, pacific walrus, ringed seal, hooded seal, narwhal, and polar bear.

The researchers found that Polar bears and ringed seals, both of which give birth in lairs or caves under the snow, lose many newborn pups when the lairs collapse in unusually early spring rains.

These species may be headed for extinction.

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