Global warming drives polar forests to grow under the ice

Mohammad ALHADDAD

The Arctic is one of the fastest changing places on earth, a very important area for understanding the extent and magnitude of planetary changes and their impacts on ecosystems. However, our understanding of Arctic coastal ecosystems is still limited, and the impacts of continuous and future climate change are largely unexplored.

Seagrass forests are known as the dominant habitats along many of the Arctic rocky coasts, providing the structure and food for economically and environmentally important species. The Canadian Arctic alone accounts for 10% of the world's coastline.

Danger map
In a recent study in Global and Planet Ching, researchers from Norwegian, Australian and Canadian universities gathered information on the distribution and diversity of kelp forests in the Arctic and assessed the impact of changes in environmental conditions on the extent, significance and resilience of these important ecosystems.

In the study, the researchers identified areas where the growth of the Arctic seabirds is likely to increase rapidly in the short term due to lower marine ice cover and increased global warming and lighting. The study also exposed areas where kelp could be adversely affected by rising fresh water inputs and coastal erosion due to the decline of sea ice and the melting of frosty soil.

"Climate change is changing marine habitats, such as kelp forests on a global scale," said Kern Dexter, lead researcher and researcher at the University of Laval, Canada. In western Australia, eastern Canada, southern Europe, northern California and the eastern United States, kelp disappears due to high temperatures.

The study indicates that in some areas, Arctic sea kelp forests have undergone sudden shifts in their ecosystems due to changing environmental interactions or changing environmental conditions.

The researchers explained that seaweed has adapted to the harsh ice conditions that gave the plants special abilities to survive in freezing temperatures and long periods of darkness, so they grow under sea ice. In nutrient-rich cold-water areas, plants can receive the highest rates of production of any natural ecosystem on earth thanks to nutrient abundance.

Habitat is important
Seaweed studies in the polar environment are of great importance, as they fill many of the major knowledge gaps about this type of plant, the animal communities in which they live as the most important habitats, as well as their role in regulating marine food webs.

Bridging these gaps and prioritizing research strategically in the areas of rapid environmental change will enable more effective management of these important habitats and better predict future changes in coastal ecosystems supported and services provided, according to the study's recommendations.

The study recorded the longest herb in Canada's Arctic seaweed, 15 meters long, and the deepest seagrass found at a depth of 60 meters in the Gulf of disco in Greenland.

More than 350 different species live in the seaweed ecosystem, with thousands of fish, birds and mammals. Kelp forests also help to protect the coasts by reducing the strength of waves during storms and reducing coastal erosion.

The researchers warn of increasing rates of stagnation of frozen soil - which has frozen for thousands of years - to reach half a meter per year. The melting of permafrost and frozen Arctic beaches leads to sedimentation in coastal waters at alarming rates, obscuring light and limiting plant growth. Surface runoff caused by the melting of glaciers will reduce salinity and increase turbidity, affecting small kelp.