Coursera [00:20:06]: To keep learning from Dr. David Hik, go to Coursera.org today to enroll for free in his course Mountains 101. Adoption of electric vehicles, more efficient ways of transportation, seem to be being adopted very quickly as well. And we see the projections are at the current rate that greenhouse gases are increasing in the atmosphere. And the oceans are getting warmer. Coursera [00:12:03]: So, when we talk through adapting versus going extinct, are those types of plants and animals–where they’re in a more vulnerable ecosystem, or there’s really just not a place for them to relocate and adapt– are those the ones that you think will be more likely to go extinct versus adapt? Dr. David Hik [00:17:25]: Well, many of the extinctions we’ve seen have been of large mammals, predators in some cases– species that haven’t gone extinct, but they’ve been lost from certain areas in the mountains. The findings highlight the importance of giving animals enough room to move freely in the face of future climate change, researchers say. Just four years ago, we had one of those big rivers that’s fed by the Kaskawulsh Glacier essentially divert from the Arctic Basin into the Pacific Basin. But scientists should use caution when applying the fates of animals during the Ice Age to the modern era, says Robert Colwell, a biogeographer at the University of Connecticut, Storrs. The melting of Antarctic ice sheets is one of the most visceral consequences of climate change, but the full extent of their impact on the cycle remains … Forty percent of its productive land is projected to be lost with sea-level rise by mid-century. The cryosphere is the part of the Earth system comprised of frozen water: ice sheets and glaciers, snow, permafrost and sea ice. ... [Melting glaciers] will affect … The predators that are there would probably switch to other prey, to deer or moose or sheep or something like that. Now, that may not seem like very much, but it’s also visible to the eye. Biodiversity loss and animals losing homes. Coursera [00:02:44]: And of course you’re a scientist, so you’ve got that eagle eye to really be noticing these things. There’s other things besides climate change, but climate change tends to exacerbate all of those other factors. Global warming can affect sea levels , coastlines , ocean acidification , ocean currents , seawater , sea surface temperatures , [1] tides , the sea floor , weather , and trigger several changes in ocean bio-geochemistry; all of these affect the functioning of a society . AAAS is a partner of HINARI, AGORA, OARE, CHORUS, CLOCKSS, CrossRef and COUNTER. So, for example, about 20 percent of the surface area of those glaciers has been lost in the last 50 years, and it’s highly visible. So, the cryosphere is the frozen part of the natural environment. And as always, thanks for listening and happy learning. And so, lake levels dropped by two meters, and the color of the lake changed. But our concern right now is that the rate of change in the climate system– the change in temperature, change in snow change in precipitation–is occurring so quickly that they can’t adapt quickly enough. Thwaites Glacier, also known as the "doomsday glacier", is reported to be melting quicker than previously thought - scientists are now trying to find out why. As water gets warmer, it occupies a larger volume. But in many ways, the biggest changes are the things that you see happening right in front of you, year after year as you return. In a 2009 paper published in Nature, researchers coined the term "climate velocity" to describe the pace of such mass migrations. And on that front, how fast exactly are glaciers, ice, snow–that cryosphere that you mentioned– how fast are they melting? Emergency Preparedness: How Much Food & Water Per Person, Prof. Aptheker on Activism, Suffrage & Intersectional Feminism, Education in America: History, Purpose, Reform, and Access, Effects of glaciers melting on the environment and humans, What cities and countries will be most vulnerable to sea-level rise, How does climate change affect plants and animals, What happens to animals that cannot adapt to the changes in their environment, What is biodiversity and why it’s important. Some animals require the cool temperatures for their day to day activities like the blue bear. There’s a variety of species that I think I’m concerned about, but I think a lot of species will find ways to surprise us. In an interconnected world, we may all suffer impacts caused by melting ice elsewhere, and settlements may be affected by sea level rises in diverse and different ways. Coursera [00:07:10]: Can you talk through some of those ideas that you see as a good solution and way to drastically reduce carbon emissions so that we can stop this rise of the climate, which results in the melting of glaciers? Dr. David Hik [00:13:53]: I mean, evolutionary processes can occur fairly quickly, or they can occur over very long periods of time. Dr. David Hik [00:07:24] : Well, I think the increase in alternative energy sources–so solar, wind, geothermal–those are being implemented much more rapidly than was initially predicted and could certainly replace a large part of the fossil fuel consumption. Effects of climate change on oceans provides information on the various effects that global warming has on oceans. Nearly 21,000 years ago, during what scientists call the Last Glacial Maximum, thick ice tracts swaddled much of North America and Europe. And 20 million people that live in the coastal areas of Bangladesh are already affected by salinity and drinking water and contamination of groundwater. Because this is happening, X, Y, and Z are also going to happen?. Dr. David Hik [00:04:55]: Well, globally, glaciers are melting quite rapidly. So, that’s outside of the entire time that our genus has been on the planet, and for many other species, while they might’ve been around for a long period of time, they’ve slowly–over the last millions or hundreds of thousands of years–adapted to a set of conditions that are typical of what we see now. And the more we understand of that larger context–historical, and present and future–I think the more attentive we can be to make sure that we don’t lose them in the longterm. And we talk about the natural hazards that occur as gravity moves rocks and mountain and water and snow down to the bottom. The world's rapidly melting glaciers has disastrous consequences on the animals that rely on them for survival. In Yukon, we’ve been able to show that shrubs–little willows and birch shrubs– are advancing upslope and that their density is increasing at about 5 percent per hector per decade. Can you talk through exactly what biodiversity is and why it’s important? Scientists had long suspected that some local animals might not be able to outrun climate change, but researchers haven't yet been able to prove the hypothesis, says Loarie, who was not involved in this study: "It's just wonderful to see empirical evidence that backs this up. Ice is melting worldwide, especially at the Earth’s poles. So, we have ways of using biodiversity as a measure for how well a particular place on the planet is doing in the face of all of these other disturbances, of which climate changes is one of the most worrying. Do you see, from your own experience and work in the Yukon, animal species adapting like this, that you’ve seen firsthand? Fresh Water Shortage The Effects of Melting Glaciers Risks Person Person Team Intro Since 1850, melting glaciers has always been a huge problem. Today, the main reason glaciers have begun to melt is because of human activity. So, every part of the world will be affected, and as a result, that just emphasizes to me that this is a global issue that needs a global response. Through his research in that area, he’s seen firsthand the impact of climate change and has been studying the long-term effects of a warming planet. There’s some other predictors of extinction– habitat loss and fragmentation, susceptibility to invasive species or diseases or parasites. Issues like the melting of glaciers point to the intricate balance that exists on our planet and to the essential nature of water to our survival. With increased shipping comes spill risk (both fuel and cargo), “black carbon” emissions that help to speed the rate of Arctic melting, ship noise that may also affect whales, and icebreaking that can disrupt ice crossing routes for people and animals. If animals can't move freely from one habitat to the next, then rare species could become stuck in sweltering conditions. It can also affect animal and plans that depend on melt-water from glaciers, while in the longer term it can cause ocean levels to rise. And all of that water is flowing out through the rivers and the lakes and ultimately into the oceans. And in a number of places, they’re down to sort of the last five or six individuals, so they’re functionally extinct. Why does it matter? Coursera.org today to enroll for free in his course Mountains 101. Those same areas today host very few endemic mammals, birds, or amphibians—species that stick to one spot and one spot only, he and colleagues report online today in Science. And so, anywhere on coastlines in every country around the Earth, where people live within a meter of the current high-tide level, will be experiencing a higher frequency of storm surges, an inundation of flooding. What kind of firsthand ways are you seeing climate change affect that area you know so well? Certain animals need the temperatures of glaciers for their daily activities. Sea ice, on the other hand, is often compared to ice cubes in a glass of water: when it melts, it does not directly change the level of water in the glass. So, for a species that’s adapted to a certain temperature, maybe they just have to move around the other side of the boulder and sort of track their preferred climate. A new study … Dr. David Hik [00:15:29]: So, there are isolated populations, say at lower elevations or on mountain peaks, those are the individuals and the populations that are probably at risk. They experience these changes firsthand. They now have thinner shells because of the warming ocean. That’s a territory in Northwest Canada, near Alaska. And that leads to the potential for a greater forest fire risk. That's because temperatures tend to be uniform across uniform landscapes, he says, meaning that animals will have to migrate long distances to reach cooler locales, putting locals at greater risks of extinction during times of change. But that sort of range of variation is going to be limited to the environmental variation that has been typical of, say, the last 10,000 years or 100,000 years. The melting of glaciers in the Himalayas has doubled over the last two decades because of global warming, a study has warned.. For more than 30 years, Dr. Hik has been studying mountain regions and has seen firsthand the impact climate change has had. Small populations, probably at greater risk. The initial effect on individuals and on the world will be relatively small, but the cumulative effect of that overtime is going to be huge. There’s other species that have been around for a very long time. So, one of the fairly universal responses to warming that we observe is a shift, an upward shift, in the limit of treeline, the altitudinal limit of treeline and shrub line and Tundra. See our study on Fisheries. Coursera [00:15:29]: Yeah, and I’m intrigued by the idea that we brought up earlier about how interconnected everything is. In 2013, a large bulk carrier transited the Northwest Passage for the first time. But, it is a landscape that I first visited in 1988. Cool-weather animals, put on your running shoes. Glacial melting leads to a rise in sea levels, which gives land animals less land to live on. Many of them, the traditional homes of First Nation People in Northwestern Canada. 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