Wildlife and global warming Navigating the Arctic Meltdown
Disappearing ponds and rattled food chains may sound crazy, but for the red-throated loon they are emerging threats in a warming world. As temperatures increase, the small Arctic ponds where this loon breeds are indeed drying up and disappearing. Its maritime wintering populations also appear to be...
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| Language: | English |
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.230.5328 http://www.defenders.org/resources/publications/programs_and_policy/science_and_economics/global_warming/navigating_the_arctic_meltdown_arctic_loon.pdf |
| Summary: | Disappearing ponds and rattled food chains may sound crazy, but for the red-throated loon they are emerging threats in a warming world. As temperatures increase, the small Arctic ponds where this loon breeds are indeed drying up and disappearing. Its maritime wintering populations also appear to be feeling the heat, leaving scientists to wonder if a marine food web altered by climbing ocean temperatures is making it more difficult for the red-throated loon to find the fatty fish it needs to survive. While populations of other loon species have remained stable in recent years, winter populations of the redthroated loon—a species that receives less attention than the common loon—have collapsed. In Alaska, its numbers declined by 53 percent from the 1970s to the 1990s. Off the Atlantic coast of the eastern United States, Christmas bird counts also hint at a downward trend. Populations outside North America may not be safe either. In Sweden, for example, red-throated loon tallies have fallen 50 percent |
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