More Geese coming in the future boys!
Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 11:55 pmA warmer Arctic isn't all bad news.
Newly published research indicates that climate change has created new, high-quality plants to feed Alaska's most northern geese.
Tens of thousands of black brant geese now flock to the Arctic coast to munch marsh-loving vegetation growing along shorelines of thawed permafrost no longer safeguarded from saltwater storm surges by sea ice, according to new U.S. Geological Survey research announced Tuesday.
The research centered on black brants during their molting season when they lose and regrow feathers, but also reflects similar changes for Canada geese, snow geese and greater white-fronted geese.
Scientists conducting surveys in new molting areas say they found 10,000 more black brant around the Cape Simpson area southeast of Barrow -- a 50 percent increase in a population previously estimated at about 20,000. The discovery of more birds in new places led the Bureau of Land Management last year to expand an existing oil and gas closure in the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area, part of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2014/01/21/3284530/research-climate-change-good-for.html#storylink=cpy
Newly published research indicates that climate change has created new, high-quality plants to feed Alaska's most northern geese.
Tens of thousands of black brant geese now flock to the Arctic coast to munch marsh-loving vegetation growing along shorelines of thawed permafrost no longer safeguarded from saltwater storm surges by sea ice, according to new U.S. Geological Survey research announced Tuesday.
The research centered on black brants during their molting season when they lose and regrow feathers, but also reflects similar changes for Canada geese, snow geese and greater white-fronted geese.
Scientists conducting surveys in new molting areas say they found 10,000 more black brant around the Cape Simpson area southeast of Barrow -- a 50 percent increase in a population previously estimated at about 20,000. The discovery of more birds in new places led the Bureau of Land Management last year to expand an existing oil and gas closure in the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area, part of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2014/01/21/3284530/research-climate-change-good-for.html#storylink=cpy
