Originally published November 29 2005
Canadian researchers say arctic lakes show the effects of global warming
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Research from the University of Alberta, led by Dr. Neal Michelutti, a post-doctoral fellow in the U of A’s Faculty of Science, reveals the alarming ecological changes that global warming is having on remote geographical regions, including arctic lakes.
New research from the University of Alberta finds climate warming brought on by human activities is producing major ecological changes in remote arctic lakes at an alarming rate.
The study is the first to show an entire lake's biological response to warming in these waters.
Dr. Neal Michelutti, a post-doctoral fellow in the U of A's Faculty of Science, finds that even in the most remote, pristine parts of the earth, changes are occurring in entire ecosystems.
Although they are far from human interaction and activity, these areas are being affected by warming.
Explains Michelutti, "We study these lakes as models of global change.
If you think of these lakes as sentinels of change they are telling us that recent warming, attributable in part to human activities, has already begun and the result is a dramatic change in the way that entire ecosystems function."Michelutti and his research team, from the U of A's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, use an innovative technique called reflectance spectroscopy, allowing them to "see" in wavelengths what the human eye can't and to learn about the chemical composition of the sediment in six lakes on Baffin Island.
They find major increases in the concentration of chlorophyll which is a good indicator of overall ecosystem production.
According to Michelutti, it's the rate of change in concentration that is most alarming.
"Increased aquatic production due to climate warming has been predicted for many years, but until now has never been demonstrated.
So, we were not totally surprised by our findings; however, the rate and magnitude of the changes that we recorded are definitely alarming, especially when taken in the context of the last several thousand years of variation."
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