Seagulls on Hamilton Bay, Lake Ontario, Ontario, Canada
More than 100 scientists collected samples from rivers in 40 countries to create a map showing how humans are altering waterways, causing them to emit more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and contribute to climate change.Seagulls are seen on Hamilton Bay, Lake Ontario, near an industrial backdrop. A new study has found global warming and pollution like fertilizer can speed up decomposition in rivers, sending more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Over 150 scientists in 40 countries, including Canada, were sent standardized cotton strips — instead of tree leaves, which are typically used — to measure the rate of organic decomposition at local sites. "What was shocking about our data was that even though we were selecting these relatively minimally impacted sites, we could still see hotspots where humans have really had an impact, either through urbanization, or agriculture or a combination," said Krista Capps, an aquatic ecosystem ecologist at the University of Georgia who co-authored the work.
Frost emphasized that researchers have studied decomposition and its links to the climate in the past, but he said that "it was a big step forward for them to be able to standardize" field testing with cotton strips.From tiny river eggs to ocean prey, filmmaker aims to capture life of salmon The global map generated using the algorithm produced results with relevance that hits closer to home as well. For example, Frost said, the map shows a clear gradient from north to south in Canada, with decomposition rates slowing down with colder temperatures. This disparity is also tied to the types of trees that thrive in these environments.A 300-kilometre scientific journey on the St.
"The places to watch out for are the parts of the world like the Canadian boreal forest that are currently lower on the scale for decomposition as shown in this study — northern latitudes are warming much faster than southern, so these are the places where changes in the future will be most significant," he said in an email., which they wrote "will enable scientists and natural-resource managers to forecast changes in the functioning of river networks at a planetary scale.
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