Cooperation and Partnerships

2010 Rio Conventions Calendar

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Title: Dovekies
Description: The Dovekie acts as a real climate indicator, giving researchers information about the temperature and health of marine ecosystems in the Arctic. Polar landscapes aren’t the only things being turned upside down by climate change: ecosystems are undergoing similar strain. Hence the use by scientists of certain plant or animal species as bioindicators, or climate sentinels. It feeds on copepods, a planktonic crustacean. At low sea temperature, copepods become large, rich in lipids and thus easier to catch. Conversely, if the sea warms up, the little auk will find it increasingly hard to feed itself and its chicks. Little auks make an excellent sentinel species since they are directly affected by environmental change.
Year: 2010
Photographer: Ralph Lee Hopkins
Date: 2010-12-02
Dovekies
 
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