On the trail of a snail?

The discoveries highlight how little we know about the smallest organisms and their biology

In 2022, a new species of land snail was discovered in Vietnam. It is the smallest known land snail on Earth, measuring the size of a grain of sand the scientific name of the recont-holder is Angustopila psammion which is derived from the Greek word for "grain of sand In 2015, Aonella nana a land snail found in Borneo, held the record for the world's smallest land snail. The newly discovered species, a psammian has similar body dimensions but a smaller shell.

Another species. Angustopila coprologos was discovered in northem Laos and is slightly larger than a mammion. The shell of a coprologos is covered in pointy projections adorned with mud-like beads, which led researchers to speculate that it gathers fecal pellets on its shell to send biochemical information to other snails or to prevent drying out.

The discoveries highlight how little we know about the smallest organisms and their biology. The snails small size allows them to elude predators, but it presents challenges when producing eggs and fitting organs into their tiny bodies

There are some marine snails that are even tinier than these two newly discovered species. These sea snails can survive being so small because they do not risk drying out which is one of the primary downsides of being so small But as the size of a snall decreases, the ratio of its body's surface area to volume goes up making it easier for water to evaporate. As snails must extend their moist bodies antsude their shells to move, they are especially vulnerable to drying out.

This risk of drying out may limit the evolution of the smallest land snails to certain regions with a stable climate or specific habitats such as caves where Juunidity remains high all year round. Some manne snails eject eggs and sperm into the water column, where most development occurs. Researchers are eager to learn more about these snails, such as their diet and what preys on them. There could be ting mites or millipedes yet to be discoverest, that snack on the snails. Ants or pseudoscorpions could be potential predators as well.

The research highlights the importance of tabamong which is the process of describing new species and where they fit into the tree of life. Despite not receiving much publicity, it remains crucial for inology and other branches of science. Taxonomists certainly play a vital role in identifying plants. fungi and animals. Without them, the scientific community would not know what they are dealing with.

Picture Credit : Google

How are plants and animals named?

Binomial nomenclature is the standard naming convention used in modern society, and applies to Latin identification of species too.

Loxodonta africana, Panthera tigris, Nelumbo nucifera. Tamarindus indica these are not magical spells - you know these names better as the African elephant, tiger, lotus and tamarind respectively. Every living being on earth, be it an animal, bird, insect or plant is given a two-part scientific name in the Latin language. The system of identification is called binomial nomenclature. It was devised by a Swedish naturalist named Carl Linnaeus in 1753. An internationally agreed-upon set of rules govem the application of binomial nomenclature. The system helps scientists worldwide to discuss the various innumerable species without confusion.A species is one of the most basic units of biological classification. Each species has a unique name. The first capitalised part of the name indicates the genus to which the organism belongs and the second part identifies the species within the genus. The name is usually printed in italics. Part of the name may describe the organism (for example, 'domesticus’ indicates a domesticated species). It may indicate the name of its discoverer, for example, Abies fraseri is a fir tree named after a John Fraser, a Scottish botanist named John Fraser who discovered the tree species.

Picture Credit : Google

Which is the smallest known mammal, by mass, that still exists?

The Etruscan shrew is the mammal having the smallest mass. It weighs only about 1.8g on average. It is also known as the Etruscan pygmy shrew or the white-toothed pygmy shrew and are characterized by very quick movements. These animals exhibit very fast metabolism and can eat about 1.5-2 times their own body weight per day. Their heads are relatively larger than their bodies.

Etruscan shrews are usually found in warm and damp habitats that are covered by shrubs. They use these habitats to hide from potential predators and often avoid open terrain such as grasslands and scrubby deciduous forests due to the threat of being hunted. They are mostly found in Europe and North Africa, all the way till Malaysia. They have also been located in the Maltese islands in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. They arrange their nests in various natural shelters, crevices, and abandoned burrows of other animals as they themselves cannot dig burrows very skillfully.

These animals are solitary and territorial. They use chirping noises and signs of aggression to protect their territories. They live rather interesting lives as they are constantly in motion when they are awake and not hiding, and when they are not eating, they constantly groom themselves. They hide from their predators very often, but such hiding periods are short and usually only last less than half an hour. When they move, they make clicking sounds, which stop as they rest.

Picture Credit : Google 

 

What are the specialities of three-toed sloths?

The three-toed sloths are considered the slowest land mammals. Their slow pace is rather famous and, on an average, it is 0.24 km/h. They are close to the size of a large cat or a small dog with their head and body having a combined length of 45 cm and a weight of 3.5-4.5 kg.

Sloths are designed for a life on the treetops. Most of their life is spent hanging from branches with a powerful grip, which is provided by their long claws. This capacity enables them to sleep in the trees-sometimes as long as 15-20 hours a day.

Sloths give birth while hanging from the trees. Their babies are often seen clinging to their mothers, and they travel by hanging onto their mothers for the first nine months of their lives. On land, their weak hind legs provide no power and their long claws become an obstacle. If they are caught on land, the three-toed sloths have no chance to escape the predators, such as big cats, and can only try to defend themselves by clawing and biting.

Picture Credit : Google 

Where can we find the perentie, the fastest reptile?

Generally considered the fastest recorded reptile, the perentie, is most commonly found in Australia. It is Australia's largest lizard, and grows to over 2.5 metres in length. It has a long neck with a stout and robust body, and has a long, tapering tail as well. Perenties have a yellow body, or a cream body with tawny brown rosettes edged in dark brown on their back. They have dark limbs with white spots, with a head and neck that are pale creamy- white with a reticulated pattern of black lines and flecks.

Perenties are found in the arid parts of South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland, and the Northern Territory, where they are usually found around rocky hills and outcrops. They often find their shelter in burrows that they dig themselves. These burrows can be extensive and have several escape exits.

The diet of younger perenties include lizards, insects, and small mammals. As they grow, they will spontaneously attack large venomous snakes, rabbits, birds and their eggs, and even small marsupials such as wallabies. They are rarely seen as they are extremely shy and live in remote areas away from human habitation. They are considered to be a species of least-concern according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Picture Credit : Google

Why is the cheetah known as the fastest mammal on land?

Cheetahs are the fastest mammals that live upon the planet and can run at speeds as high as 113 km per hour in short distances.

Their bodies are designed with a lot of agility. They can make quick turns while running at high speeds. Their spines are extremely flexible, giving them the ability to have long strides. Their slender limbs and hard footpads are also excellent tools that aid their agility and speed.

Cheetahs are covered in bold black stripes all over their body and each cheetah has a unique pattern over its skin. They have a tear-like pattern that runs from the inner corners of their eyes down to both sides of their mouths. The ends of their tails have black rings as well. These cats have great eye sight, making them dangerous predators.

Their unique coat is also a great way to blend with the tall, dry grass of the plains and helps them remain hidden during the hunt. The cheetahs live in a range of habitats across eastern and southern Africa, but they are usually found in open grasslands. At one point, they were found throughout Asia and Africa, but they are currently facing extinction due to loss of habitat. Their lives are threatened by the declining number of prey due to the destruction of the natural environments.

Although cheetahs are considered to be among the big cats, they are unable to roar- they can only purr. Like the other big cats of the family, they also usually prey on small- to medium-size animals such as hares, impalas, wildebeest calves, and gazelles.

The cheetah chases its prey at only about half of its maximum speed and often has to rest for at least half an hour before it can eat so as to catch breath. The pronghorn, also called the American antelope, is the fastest long-distance runner in the animal kingdom.

Picture Credit : Google 

Which is the world's tallest tree?

The Coast Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) are the tallest trees on Earth. They are found along the coastline of the Redwood National Park in Northern California. Apart from being the tallest trees on the planet, they are also some of the oldest living things on Earth. They have a life of up to 2,000 years. Even though it is not clear exactly why these trees can live to be so ancient, we do know that climatic conditions play a key role in this. They are also some of the most resilient trees on Earth. Their tannin-rich bark seems to be impenetrable to the fungus and diseases that affect other trees.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the king of these giants is a tree known as Hyperion. When it was last measured in 2019, it stood 116.07 metres tall from top to base, taller than a 35-storey building. Hyperion's exact location is a closely held secret, but it is known to be found in a hillside in which most of the old-growth coastal redwoods have been logged. Hyperion is estimated to be between 600 and 800 years old.

Picture Credit :Google

Which is the tallest animal?

Giraffes are the world's tallest animals with legs as long as 1.8 metres. They not only have long legs, but also have long necks that they use to reach leaves and buds on treetops, which no other animal can reach. They have very long tongues as well, which can be as long as 53.34 centimetres.

Living in the African savannah, they move at a speed of 16 kilometres per hour to cover long distances and can run as fast as 56 kilometres per hour in short distances. Although their massive height becomes advantageous while looking out for predators, it also becomes a difficulty while they drink from water holes. With their towering legs, the only way to drink water from these water holes is to bend down in a weird position that makes them vulnerable to attack. The wild cats of Africa are the most common predators of the giraffes.

Their favourite food is Acacia leaves. Like the cows, they regurgitate their food and chew it as cud. Their diet also keeps them hydrated, as the leaves have a lot of water content in them and helps them to avoid going to the water holes frequently. They also travel really long distances to find their meal as they consume about a hundred pounds of leaves every week, which is a big volume of plant matter to be found in one area.

Picture Credit :Google

What are the predators of plant kingdom?

These are plants with many tricks up their sleeve. These are plants that consume meat. In short, these are called carnivorous plants. They lure unsuspecting prey into their traps. They indulge in carnivorous behaviour to obtain much-needed nutrients that are not found in the soil. Insects, spiders, lizards, mice, rats, and other small vertebrates become their prey. Let's take a look at some of these meat eaters.

VENUS FLYTRAP

Here we have hinged traps built into each leaf of the plant. These hinged lobes have spiny tooth-like structures attached to them. There are hair-like projections called trichomes in the insides of the lobe and if a prey were to get into contact with these hairy structures, snap shut the lobes and the prey has been caught! The tooth-like structures that edge the lobes ensure that the prey cannot get out of the trap.

NEPENTHES RAJAH

The Nepenthes rajah is the largest carnivorous plant in the world. Its trap can grow up to 41 centimetres tall. Vertebrates and small mammals have fallen prey to this genus of camivorous pitcher plant. This plant is endemic to Borneo. Insects get attracted by the odour of the nectar and once inside the pitcher, they cannot escape as they fail to get a grip on the sticky walls of the pitcher. They then fall into the water in the pitcher and as they struggle, the digestive glands get stimulated and digestive acids are released. The Nepenthes rajah can even digest mice!

PITCHER PLANT

For the pitcher plant, its pitcher-shaped leaves form the trap. These pitfall traps are filled with digestive juices. The animals are lured by the nectar. The rims of the pitcher are slippery and the prey falls in and drowns in the digestive fluids. They are often seen growing in a range of habitats viz. from pine barrens to sandy coastal swamps. They normally grow in poor soil conditions and it is through their carnivorous behaviour that they get the much-needed nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen.

COBRA LILY

With its hooded pitcher-like leaves, this pitcher plant resembles a cobra. Even the purple-red appendages that the plant has resembles a set of fangs. The nectar glands attract insects and small animals to the mouth of the pitcher. The large tubular leaves of the plant trap water. This is the only species of its genus that do not produce its own digestive enzymes. Rather, it depends on bacteria to break down its prey. Once inside, there is no escape. The slippery walls and the downward-pointing hairs ensure this and the prey falls into the fluid at the bottom of the pitcher. The prey gets decomposed by microorganisms in the fluid. The plant is native to swamps in the mountainous regions of the USA.

BUTTERWORT

Butterwort is a carnivorous flowering plant that uses its sticky leaves to lure in insects and eventually trap and digest them. This plant releases its enzymes for digesting the prey whilst it holds the prey in its place with its sticky mucous.

Picture Credit : Google 

Which is the world's largest flower?

Rafflesia Arnoldii, or the corpse flower, is the largest individual flower on Earth. It is a species of flowering plant in the parasitic genus Rafflesia found in the rain-forests of Sumatra and Borneo. With a strong and unpleasant odour of decaying flesh, it grows to a diameter of around one metre and weighs up to 11 kilograms. The buds of these flowers are about 30 cm wide and are very large and cabbage- like, in maroon or dark brown colour.

The flower is in fact a pot with five petals with striking red-brick and spotted cream colours, which warmly welcome carrion flies that are hungry for detritus. But the plant is now facing the threat of extinction and its existence is limited to places like Sumatra, Borneo, Thailand and the Philippines, because of depredations caused by humans and its own internal biology.

In terms of survival, everything seems to be against Rafflesia. Firstly, its seeds are difficult to germinate. As a result, it sustains entirely as a parasite on just one type of vine. This is dangerous as it can't survive without the vine. Apart from this, once it has acquired its nutrition by being a parasite, the plant breaks out as a flower bud, swells up over several months, and then bursts into flower. But even after this arduous growth phase, most of the flower buds perish before blooming. Even after blooming, Rafflesia can last only a few days, and is forced to pollinate in this short period of time. But the chances of pollination are very rare as the numbers of plants are decreasing steadily.

Picture Credit : Google 

WHAT IS HARMFUL TO THE ANIMAL KINGDOM?

Although natural disasters and sudden changes on Earth's surface, such as earthquakes, volcanoes and wildfires, can hurt the animal kingdom, human-led changes, such as the cutting down of forests, deliberate forest fires, water and air pollution, have also severely affected wild animal habitats across the world.

Earthquakes and tsunamis

According to United States Geological Survey (USGS), each year there are 15-20 major earthquakes worldwide with a magnitude of over 7.0 and over a thousand that measure above 5.0.5 Unlike hurricanes and volcanoes, earthquakes hit without warning.6 In addition to shaking land, they can shake and displace the seabed. Islands and beaches can disappear from subsiding land or double in size because the land surrounding it is uplifted.7 When the ocean floor is displaced, it can create a tsunami, which is a series of high, fast waves that begin quickly, can cross oceans, and can last for days.8 They may be followed by landslides that bury animals alive and destroy their homes9 or floods that can sweep them away.

Volcanoes

There are at least 20 volcanoes erupting around the world at any time, not including volcanoes erupting underwater, which are much greater in number.13 Eruptions can last for months or years, spewing abrasive and toxic lava and ash, causing explosions, and heating nearby water that can boil marine animals alive.

Storms

The wind, rain, and debris from storms injure and kill animals and cause a lot of damage to their habitats, including destroying shelters and contaminating food and water sources. During Hurricane Dorian in 2019, winds reached 295 km per hour. Strong winds and rain can cause broken limbs, head trauma, as well as breathing problems and infections from getting water in the lungs. Animals are displaced and orphaned. Most of these problems would not be fatal if the animals were able to receive care, but in most cases they do not. A few lucky mammals and birds get care if they are blown into urban areas and are found disoriented on someone’s lawn.

Floods

Smaller animals are more vulnerable to drowning or dying in resulting floods and mudslides. Burrowing animals may be safe from smaller disturbances, but torrential rains can collapse their burrows or block the entrances, trapping them or leaving them without shelter. Burrow entrances can be blocked by branches, leaves, stones and other debris moved around by water or wind.

Fires

A single wildfire can kill millions of animals. The flames and smoke of forest fires kill most animals in their path, including many burrowing animals who are too near the surface, and animals who live in rivers and streams as the flames pass over. Even if they survive the fires, the aftermath can leave animals with burns, blindness, and respiratory problems that can be fatal or permanently debilitating. Hurricane force winds can carry embers and ash from a fire up to a mile away, which can trigger new fires. Strong fires generate so much energy that they change the local weather by modifying wind and temperature. The moisture coming off a fire can generate clouds that cause rain.

Credit : Animal ethics

Picture Credit : Google 

WHAT ARE PREDATORS AND PREY?

When one animal kills another for food, it is called predation. The animal which kills is called a predator, and the animal which gets killed is known as prey. Predators often have special skills for hunting, with highly tuned vision, hearing and sense of smell. Many have sharp claws and jaws to grab hold of and tear the body of the prey. Predators can act in a group or can kill alone. At times they hide and wait to catch their prey off-guard in an ambush killing.

Predator and prey evolve together. The prey is part of the predator's environment, and the predator dies if it does not get food, so it evolves whatever is necessary in order to eat the prey: speed, stealth, camouflage (to hide while approaching the prey), a good sense of smell, sight, or hearing (to find the prey), immunity to the prey's poison, poison (to kill the prey) the right kind of mouth parts or digestive system, etc. Likewise, the predator is part of the prey's environment, and the prey dies if it is eaten by the predator, so it evolves whatever is necessary to avoid being eaten: speed, camouflage (to hide from the predator), a good sense of smell, sight, or hearing (to detect the predator), thorns, poison (to spray when approached or bitten), etc.

In this snowy environment, the polar bear is white to avoid being noticed as it approaches the seal, and the seal pup is white to avoid being noticed by the bear.

The fastest lions are able to catch food and eat, so they survive and reproduce, and gradually, faster lions make up more and more of the population. The fastest zebras are able to escape the lions, so they survive and reproduce, and gradually, faster zebras make up more and more of the population. An important thing to realize is that as both organisms become faster to adapt to their environments, their relationship remains the same: because they are both getting faster, neither gets faster in relation to the other. This is true in all predator-prey relationships.

Another example of predator-prey evolution is that of the Galapagos tortoise. Galapagos tortoises eat the branches of the cactus plants that grow on the Galapagos islands. On one of the islands, where long-necked tortoises live, the branches are higher off the ground. On another island, where short-necked tortoises live, the branches are lower down. The cactuses, the prey, may have evolved high branches so that the tortoises, the predators, can't reach them.

Credit : New England complex system institute

Picture Credit :Google 

WHY ARE ANIMALS KNOWN AS FAUNA?

'Fauna' is a word for all the animal life within a region or period of time. The word comes from Greek mythology and roughly means 'creatures of the wild'. The naturalist Carl Linnaeus was the first to use this term in 1974 in the title of his book Fauna Svecica, which means the 'wildlife of Sweden'.

History of Fauna

Fauna was first used as a biological term by naturalist Carl Linnaeus, as a term which described the animals of a region, as opposed to the plants. Plant life was dubbed flora. Thus, the flora and fauna of a region or time describe all of the life within. Linnaeus seems to have borrowed the term from Greek and Roman mythology.

In Greek mythology, the god Pan is the goat-legged offspring of a more powerful god and a wood nymph. This leads him to become the representative god of the wild. Roman mythology adopted this persona in the gods Faunus and Fauna, which gave rise to a number of man-creatures which populated the mythology. Linnaeus adopted the word for his formal work on the animals of Sweden Fauna Suecica, in 1745. Roughly translated, this means the “wildlife of Sweden”.

Following his lead, naturalists began to use the terms flora and fauna to identify the various living organisms in a taxonomic hierarchy. Flora included everything in the kingdom Plantae, while fauna included the kingdom Animalia. The definition of fauna has expanded and changed over the years. For instance, when genotyping became a reality and it was understood that there are actually 3 domains of life, the Archaea, Bacteria, and the Eukarya.

With this change came the formal phasing out of the word fauna, scientifically. While the word flora had maintained its definition as “any organism within the kingdom Plantae”, fauna had changed drastically. Fauna, as used currently, typically describes any organisms in the domains Archaea and Bacteria, plus the kingdom Animalia. This is not a monophyletic grouping, and as such does not accurately describe anything for scientists trying to organize the forms of life in a place or time. Further, flora and fauna tend to exclude the kingdom Fungi, which was once recognized as a plant but is now recognized as its own kingdom.

Examples of Fauna

Fauna of the Great Plains, 2018

If you were to conduct a survey, today, of all the fauna in the Great Plains of the United States, you would find a great many species. You would find many species of birds, from pheasants to eagles. You would find mammals, from the tiny field mouse to the mighty bison. Most other groups, from the reptiles to the worms, would also be represented. You would surely find an abundance of insects. On the microscopic level, the soil and waters are teeming with fauna. Even waters too acidic or hot for the normal fauna can host thermophilic or acidophilic bacteria and other organisms, evolved to deal with the harsh conditions. In essence, if you take the entirety of life on the Great Plains today, subtract all the plants, you have a representation of the fauna. This is obviously a large and intangible collection of many different inter-related species.

Fauna of the Great Plains, 100 Million Years Ago

If we could take ourselves back in time, the fauna of the Great Plains would look much different. Although we would remain in the same place, the environment would be very different. At that time, glaciers had melted to a low, and a vast inland sea had spread across the continental United States.

In this inland sea would have existed a variety of monsters, from the first modern sharks, to giant marine reptiles like Ichthyosaur and Plesiosaur. Modern bony fishes were evolving, as well as a variety of other marine organism. In this vast sea, you could have found everything from early starfish, to horseshoe crabs, to all sorts of evolving arthropods. Other fauna of the historical Great Plains would include the microscopic diatoms and zooplankton and algae, which would have been the base of the food-chain at the time. As the glaciers reformed, the land was colonized by the terrestrial organisms we know today. You can see how the fauna of a region can easily change over time.

Gut Fauna

A popular term these days is “gut fauna”, or in other words, the creatures living inside of your digestive tract. Humans, like almost all other animals, have a complex symbiotic relationship with the organism harbored within them. While there are barriers in place to keep these organisms from infecting the body, they are essential to digesting many types of food. Technically speaking, the fauna in the gut is referred to as the microbiome, because it is its own unique ecosystem. There are many species of bacteria and eukaryotes which take part in digestion, and each fills a unique niche in the ecosystem. While scientists have yet to fully understand the microbiome of the digestive system, there are many diets and probiotics on the market which claim to positively affect the fauna of the microbiome. These claims have yet to be confirmed by mainstream science.

Credit : Biology dictionary 

Picture Credit : Google 

WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF LIVING FOSSIL? WHY LIVING FOSSILS VITAL FOR OUR LIVES?

Definition of living fossil: An organism that has remained essentially unchanged from earlier geologic times and whose close relatives are usually extinct. For example :Ginkgo biloba, Syntexis libocedrii.

Did you know that the horseshoe crab has been around for 450 million years, quietly watching dinosaurs go extinct and early fish slowly evolve into land-dwelling creatures? Despite having been around for so long, today it is "listed as vulnerable in America and endangered in Asia". Sadly, one of the reasons for this is the crab being deeply linked to the safety of human life. How so? Come, let's find out.

There's one kind of bacteria that can infect medications, needles, and even certain types of medical devices. And the horseshoe crab helps detect the presence of this bacteria - its bright blue blood clots in the presence of harmful bacterial components called endotoxins. This has helped test the safety of biomedical products for nearly 50 years now. However, the pharmaceutical industry is one of the reasons that the species is endangered. The other suspects are the usuals habitat loss and overharvesting for food. The crabs are also vulnerable during the breeding season. They come to the beach for breeding and during the tide some of them end up on their backs. The unlucky among them that cannot turn back are likely to be exposed to the sun for a long time, which can prove to be fatal.

In fact, over 20 years ago, the Just flip 'em' campaign came to be, "encouraging members of the public to do their part by gently picking up upturned crabs that are still alive". While this literally saves the lives of crabs, the larger aim is that such public engagement helps them care more for and seek protection for these creatures.

Did you know?

  • Calling them crabs could be a bit of a misnomer because they are more closely related to spiders and scorpions.
  • Horseshoe crabs have five pairs of legs that are connected to their mouth. They crush their food, such as worms and clams, between their legs and passing it to their mouths. They also have 10 eyes.

Picture Credit : Google 

WHAT IS THE TUNDRA?

The tundra refers to a vast, flat, treeless Arctic region of Europe, Asia, and North America in which the subsoil is permanently frozen. Tundra ecosystems are also found on the mountaintops here, where the climate is cold and windy, and rainfall is scant. These lands are covered with snow for much of the year, which melts during the summer. Yet it hosts a few species of wildlife acclimatised to harsh conditions. As the tundra faces the threat of global warming, so do its inhabitants.

Plants and Animals in Tundras:

Mountain goats, sheep, marmots, and birds live in mountain—or alpine—tundra and feed on the low-lying plants and insects. Hardy flora like cushion plants survive in the mountain zones by growing in rock depressions, where it is warmer and they are sheltered from the wind.

The Arctic tundra, where the average temperature is -34 to -6 degrees Celsius (-30 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit), supports a variety of animal species, including Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus), polar bears (Ursus maritimus), gray wolves (Canis lupus), caribou (Rangifer tarandus), snow geese (Anser caerulescens), and musk oxen (Ovibos moschatus). The summer growing season is just 50 to 60 days, when the sun shines up to 24 hours a day.

The relatively few species of plants and animals that live in the harsh conditions of the tundra are essentially clinging to life. They are highly vulnerable to environmental stresses like reduced snow cover and warmer temperatures brought on by global warming.

Climate Change Impact on Tundras

The Arctic tundra is changing dramatically due to global warming, a term that falls within a wider range of trends scientists now prefer to call climate change. The impacts in this region are broad and somewhat unpredictable. Animals that are typically found farther south, like the red fox (Vulpes vulpes), are moving north onto the tundra. This means the red fox is now competing with the Arctic fox for food and territory, and the long-term impact on the sensitive Arctic fox is unknown.

Other tundra denizens, such as the wolf spider (Lycosidae spp.), are growing bigger and thriving. Shrubs are getting taller, contributing to declines in the sensitive groups of lichen that caribou and other species depend on for food. Lakes and ponds are evaporating or draining away.

Ctedit : National geographic society 

Picture Credit : Google