Many Arctic Plants Have Adjusted to Big Climate Changes, Study Finds

[XemaSab]

Many Arctic plant species have readily adjusted to big climate changes, repeatedly recolonizing the rugged islands of the remote Svalbard archipelago off Norway’s coast through 20,000 years of warm and cool spells since the frigid peak of the last ice age, researchers report in today’s issue of the journal Science.

Their finding implies that, in the Arctic at least, plants may be able to shift long distances to follow the climate conditions for which they are best adapted as those conditions move under the influence of human-caused global warming, the researchers and some independent experts said.

Some experts on climate and biology who were not involved with the study, which was led by scientists from the University of Oslo, said it provided a glimmer of optimism in the face of generally bleak scientific assessments of the vulnerability of ecosystems to the atmospheric buildup of greenhouse gases.

Terry L. Root, a biologist at Stanford who has been involved with many studies concluding that plants and animals are measurably feeling the effects of human-driven warming, described the Svalbard research as “great news.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/15/science/earth/15arctic.html

[slackmaster]

1. They're going to be pretty upset when kudzu makes it to Norway

[XemaSab]

2. It's going places

n/t

[kestrel91316]

3. It's my understanding that a small herd of goats, left to their own devices,

could fix that mess in your photo PDQ.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1021/p01s02-ussc.html