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South Africa: Marion Island Clue to Global Warming Threat

Posted on August 11th, 2007 by admin - Share This

allAfrica.com - August 8, 2007

An extremely interesting article even though I think the title is making a basic claim that is not proven by the article!

I have written about the adaptability of species on this site before (see here and here and here). I found this article to have a unique spin. I am not convinced though that this article is about the dangers of global warming or the dangers of man introducing new species into another environment.  Wikipedia has a great write-up and other links on the dangers of species invasion and you may want to do some background reading there as well as check out their references.

The article discusses that the introduced species of springtails has survived better in the climate that is indicative lately to Marion Island. This puts pressure on the native species of plants and animals. The article discusses that this is a outcome of global warming but they make a very weak argument.

While there may be some drought going on at the island, they don’t prove that drought is a function of global warming. Rather, their statement that there is less rainfall implies that this is just a drought and not a function of global warming as some studies suggest that global warming will bring wetter conditions.

In general, I think the tie to global warming is more of way to get the study and article read by more people. Global warming is a pretty popular topic right now and species invasion simply doesn’t get much press.

Climate change is likely to give invasive species the edge over their indigenous counterparts, according to new research on tiny comma-like soil animals living on Marion Island in the southern Indian Ocean.

Scientists found that species of immigrant springtails that were inadvertently imported by visitors to the island over the past 70 years survived hot and dry conditions far better than those that had lived there for thousands of years.

Marion Island has a cool, wet, windy environment that has already begun to experience the drought-like effects global climate change is expected to inflict on temperate regions. Over the past 50 years its annual mean temperature has risen by 1C while its yearly precipitation has fallen by more than 500mm.

Warm days on Marion Island are rare, so typically the (indigenous) animals don’t show much flexibility. Invasives thrive because they do so well under a range of conditions.

Springtails are one to two millimetres long, with a tiny spring under the tail that enables them to jump high in the air. They are one of the most abundant macroscopic animals on the planet, with up to tens of thousands per square metre of soil, and are found across the globe from Antarctica to the Arctic.

Last year, scientists described Marion Island as the “canary in the coal mine”, warning that changes there were a portent of things to come in similarly temperate regions, including parts of SA.

This article is of limited importance in the understanding of global warming as their proof statements are just not that strong. If you are interested in species invasion or the general interaction of how plants or animals thrive better in different climates, I think you will find the article interesting.  Click through here.

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Filed under: Getting warmer

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