All because you refuse to stop taking fossil fueled travel and buy a bike
Siberian tundra ‘could disappear by 2050’ due to climate change
The Siberian tundra could have vanished entirely by the middle of this century, researchers have warned.
Temperatures in the Arctic are soaring due to climate change, and larch forests are steadily marching north into the territory of the tundra.
Researchers at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany ran computer simulations and found that even if climate change measures are taken, just 30% of the Siberian tundra – home to unique animals and plants – will survive by 2050.
In other scenarios, the Siberian tundra will vanish entirely. The study was released in the journal eLife. (snip)
“In the course of our study, we simulated this process for the tundra in northeast Russia.
“The central question that concerned us was: which emissions path does humanity have to follow in order to preserve the tundra as a refuge for flora and fauna, as well its role for the cultures of indigenous peoples and their traditional ties to the environment?”
Computer models. Did they even travel around Siberia taking measurements? This is what they call science these days.
Hummingbirds May Struggle To Go Any Further Uphill To Evade Climate Change
Any animal ascending a mountain experiences a double whammy of difficulties: the air gets thinner while it also becomes colder, which is particularly problematic for creatures striving to keep warm when less oxygen is available. For tiny animals with the highest-octane lives, such as hovering hummingbirds, the challenges of migrating to higher levels to evade climate change may be too much, but no one knew whether these incredible aviators may have more gas in the tank to keep them flying at higher altitudes.
As Anna’s hummingbirds (Calypte anna) are comfortable up to elevations of ~2,800 m (~9200 feet), Austin Spence from the University of Connecticut, USA, and Morgan Tingley from the University of California, Los Angeles, USA, were curious to find out how hummingbirds that originated from close to sea level and those that live at the loftier end of the range would cope when transported well above their natural habitat to an altitude of 3,800m (12,500 feet). They published their discovery in the Journal of Experimental Biology that the birds struggle to hover and suffer a 37% drop in their metabolic rate at that height – in addition to becoming torpid for most of the night to conserve energy – making it unlikely that they can relocate to higher altitudes.
So, they took the hummingbirds way, way above their normal height range, and are shocked! that they have trouble. And this is all your fault.