Environmental News 10.10.13 Part II: Huge Wetlands in Hudson Bay Transforming and Releasing Carbon Scientists have found that global warming is fast transforming Canada’s Hudson Bay Lowlands, a vast wetland region and one of Earth’s most southern Arctic refuges, and that the repercussions are of global significance. The region in northern Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba has “passed a tipping point, the pace and magnitude of which is exceptional even by Arctic standards,” the team led by Queen’s University concluded in a study published this week. “This will influence the huge store of carbon in the region’s extensive peatlands and also effect the world’s southern-most polar bear population that depends upon Hudson Bay sea ice and permafrost for survival, and native communities who rely on this landscape for sustenance.” Says the report. The Hudson Bay region has experienced little biological change for hundreds of years, say the researchers, who studied the algae fossilized in sediments in four lakes in the region, which provide a record of past ecosystems. But they say sediments laid down on the lake bottoms after the mid-1990s show, “striking biological changes have occurred in the region’s freshwater ecosystems.” They report a “compelling” synchrony between the shifts seen in the type of algae growing in the lakes and the increase in temperature in the region. Co-author, John Smol, added that there are plenty of other signs of the remarkable shift underway in the region, including the fish kills caused by heat stress, dropping water levels, and three weeks less ice cover on Hudson Bay than there was prior to 1995. “This is unprecedented,” Smol says. “We are entering new ecological states and we are not really prepared.” While the impacts will most directly be felt by the native people and birds, bears and other wildlife in the region, Smol says changes in the lowlands could have international implications if the region’s extensive peatlands begin to release their vast store of carbon, which could accelerate climate change. “The ramifications are global,” says Smol. “It is very bad news.” canada/technology/Global+warming+threatens+Hudson+Lowlands+Arctic+refuge/9013158/story.html
Posted on: Wed, 09 Oct 2013 20:03:34 +0000
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