The Escalator Effect. Rising temperatures are changing mountain ecosystems as the heat forces some species upwards — until there is nowhere left to go. Emma Marris reports on the 'escalator effect', which is threatening species worldwide.
National Geographic News
Plants "Climbing" Mountains Due to Global Warming
Mason Inman -- June 26, 2008
Each year this "escalator effect" is pushing plants upward by about ten feet (three meters).
If global warming continues over the coming decades—as researchers predict it will—the plants will continue to climb.
But since some species move faster than others, this shift could tear established ecosystems apart, the researchers report in tomorrow's issue of the journal Science.
From the pages of National Geographic Magazine
Signs From Earth: The Big Thaw
Daniel Glick -- September 2004
When President Taft created Glacier National Park in 1910, it was home to an estimated 150 glaciers. Since then the number has decreased to fewer than 30, and most of those remaining have shrunk in area by two-thirds. Fagre predicts that within 30 years most if not all of the park's namesake glaciers will disappear.
"Things that normally happen in geologic time are happening during the span of a human lifetime," says Fagre. "It's like watching the Statue of Liberty melt."
Plants "Climb" Mountains to Escape Global Warming
The study, published in the journal Science, is the first to bring the positive news that many mountain plants are able to adapt to the rapid changes brought by global warming. But there are troubling ramifications. The team also discovered that different types of plants are moving at different rates. "Long-lived plants like trees or shrubs did not show a significant shift, whereas short-lived species like herbs showed a strong upward shift in elevation," [lead researcher Jonathan] Lenoir said. "This may imply profound changes in the composition and the structure of plant communities and on the animal species they interact with," he added. "It may disrupt ecosystems"
[These guys should be able to keep cool -- at least for a while.]
I saw a PBS Documentary on the Yellowstone Grizzly Bear recently, about its "precarious Protection" under the law, due to its Endangered Species Status (Delisting the Grizzly is currently working its way through the Courts, right now).
PBS Nature: The Good, the Bad, the Grizzly
It's a Great video, if you got an hour, to watch all five Segments.
But "Part 5 - The Great Debate" is the one that cuts to the chase:
You see, the thriving Bear population is on a "Collision Course" with the thriving Human population, who are also flocking to the high mountain lifestyle, in record numbers.
It seems the Grizzly Bear's "traditional" food sources are being "chased up or off the Mountains" by Climate-caused changes. But the clever Bears however, have discovered, unlike Plants, "their personal Escalator" moves in a Downward direction too ... Say Yogi, those "Picnic baskets" tend to stay put, what do you say, eh?
But to summarize the conclusions of the Documentary, relevant to Global Warming, and the Escalator Effect:
[here are conclusions of David Madsen Wildlife Biologist:]
Yellowstone Grizzly Bears depend on 4 main [natural] food sources:
- Bison (which are about to be culled due to a herd disease)
- Cut-throat Trout (being crowded out by another invasive species from the east)
- Moths (believe it or not) which live under rocks in the Alpine Snow fields (these Moths are also disappearing as "High Alpine Ecosystems" are disappearing along with so many Glaciers)
- and the Pine Cones of White-bark Pines (Alpine Trees which are disappearing as the Tree-line marches up hill, and to due a new "warm weather" Tree Fungus.)
As a result, the Bears are being forced to forage at the lower elevations,
where ranchers, and humans live and camp, and try to "dominant the planet".
Thus the "collision course" already being brought on by Global Warming.
[Moths -- the "Canaries in the Alpine Ecosystem" -- who knew?]
Sadly I fear the future holds many more such "collision courses", as all these important Climate issues, become increasingly urgent. (The "Industrial Age" has unleashed one grand "Free Market Experiment", which is still running its course, onward to its final "unknown" Outcome!)
It's too bad, the conclusions of Scientists, is rarely enough to persuade journalists or decision-makers these days.
[The Sea Level seems to has its own little Escalator Effect, going on.]
Science, bahh! Who needs Science, when we got the Apollo Technology, that can solve any "Escalator" Problem?
[Put the Army Corp of Engineers on it, they can stop both Floods and Hurricanes!]
Yep, Apollo Tech, that's the ticket!